George Orwell With A Twist

     

Tucson Weather Today

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On January 14, 2014 the New York Times reported:

WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks. While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.

More from the New York Times

My opinion:

A more appropriate designation for the NSA (National Security Agency) would be the SS (Secret Service) and it is the most dangerous current threat in existence to individual liberty for the United States of America, and perhaps, eventually, for the entire population of Earth itself.

I understand that President Obama will issue some new guidelines on Friday to curtail government surveillance, but it is clear that he believes the NSA has a right to use modern technology to gather and store information from any source in order to ensure security for the nation.

What such actions by the NSA will do, even though Obama says his administration would never do it, is to allow this government agency to gather and store data that can be used to suppress and negate any and all protests by the citizenry. Even if Obama is sincere and correct, these stored data will still be available (by law) to a future governing body that is not so trustworthy as is Obama's. Imagine what a Richard Nixon type regime could and probably would do with such information.

Think about it.

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Did You Know . . .?

Human Beings are the only primates whose numbers are not in decline.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1997, comedian and TV star Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son Ennis Cosby was murdered after he stopped to fix a flat tire along California's Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. The 405 is known as one of the planet's busiest and most congested roadways. A Ukrainian-born teenager, Mikhail Markhasev reportedly high on drugs, approached Cosby to rob him but when Cosby took too long to hand over money he was shot and killed.

Ennis Cosby was the third of Bill Cosby's five children and said to be the inspiration for the character of Theo Huxtable on the hit TV sitcom "The Cosby Show."

In August 1998 Markhasev, then 19. was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of  parole, plus 10 years for first-degree murder and attempted robbery.

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WORD FOR TODAY

subjugation
noun
the state of being kept down by unjust use of force or authority; oppression

Subjugation is one of many types of injustice in the world. It has to do with one group of people dominating another group by taking away their freedom. When slavery was legal in the U.S., that was a clear-cut case of subjugation: African-Americans were forced to live without rights, under the control of their white owners.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Deborrah Kaye “Debbie” Allen

(born January 16, 1950)

Debbie Allen is an American actress, dancer, and choreographer. She is perhaps best known for her work on the 1982 musical-drama television series Fame, where she portrayed dance teacher Lydia Grant, and served as the series' principal choreographer. She is the younger sister of actress Phylicia Rashad.

Josie Rebecca Davis

(born January 16, 1973)

Josie Davis is an American actress, best known for her role as Sarah Powell in the television sitcom Charles in Charge from 1987 to 1990.

Yvonne Marie Zima

(born January 16, 1989)

Yvonne Zima is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sheila Carter's daughter, Daisy Carter on The Young and the Restless.

Renée Felice Smith

(born January 16, 1985)

Renee Felice Smith is an American actress best known for portraying Nell Jones on NCIS: Los Angeles.

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Whether it's rude or not, multitasking is probably ruining your brain. You should stop.
--Kevin Drum

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

Liberty And Justice For All

    

Tucson Weather Today
 

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I often hear the process of spaying and neutering of cats and dogs referred to as having these pets 'fixed.' And each time I hear this I am tempted to retort that the animal has not been 'fixed'  at all, but has been 'damaged' and needs to be fixed.

But so far I have been able to choke back this bit of pretentious whimsy. After all, it's only a grammatical mistake and has been so widely accepted that it has now become virtualy correct.

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TRIVIA

Venus is the only planet in our Solar System that rotates clockwise.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On June 12, in 1994 Nicole Brown Simpson, famous football player O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, and her friend Ron Goldman were brutally stabbed to death outside Nicole's home in Brentwood, California, in what quickly became one of the most highly publicized trials of the century. With overwhelming evidence against him, including a prior record of domestic violence towards Brown, O.J. Simpson became the chief suspect.

The evidence against Simpson was extensive: His blood was found at the murder scene; blood, hair, and fibers from Brown and Goldman were found in Simpson's car and at his home; one of his gloves was also found in Brown's home, the other outside his own house; and bloody shoeprints found at the scene matched those of shoes owned by Simpson.

However, Simpson's so-called "Dream Team" of defense lawyers, including Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey, claimed before a national television audience that Simpson had been framed by racist police officers such as Detective Mark Fuhrman. After deliberating for three hours, the jury acquitted Simpson.

In a civil trial brought about by the families of the victims, Simpson was found responsible for causing Goldman's death and committing battery against Brown in February 1997, and was ordered to pay a total of $33.5 million, little of which he has paid.

In 2007, Simpson ran into legal problems once again when he was arrested for breaking into a Las Vegas hotel room and taking sports memorabilia, which he claimed had been stolen from him, at gunpoint. On October 3, 2008, he was found guilty of 12 charges related to the incident, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and sentenced to 33 years in prison.

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WORD FOR TODAY

justice [juhs-tuhs]
noun
1. the quality of being just.
2. rightfulness or lawfulness.
3. the moral principle determining just conduct.
4. the administering of deserved punishment or reward.

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, equity or fairness, as well as the administration of the law, taking into account the inalienable and inborn rights of all human beings and citizens, the right of all people and individuals to equal protection before the law of their civil rights, without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, or other characteristics, and is further regarded as being inclusive of social justice.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

George Herbert Walker Bush

(born June 12, 1924)

George H. W. Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States (1989–1993). A Republican, he had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States (1981–1989), a congressman, an ambassador and Director of Central Intelligence; he is currently the oldest surviving former President and Vice President and the last surviving former President who is a veteran of World War II.

Annelies "Anne" Marie Frank

(June 12, 1929 - March 1945)

Anne Frank is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her diary has been the basis for several plays and films. Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Born a German national, Frank lost her citizenship in 1941. She gained international fame posthumously after her diary was published. It documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

Jim Nabors

(born June 12, 1930)

Jim Nabors is an American actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California because of his asthma. While working at a Santa Monica nightclub, The Horn, he was discovered by Andy Griffith and later joined The Andy Griffith Show, playing Gomer Pyle. The character proved popular, and Nabors was given his own spin-off show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Jenilee Harrison

(June12,1969)

Jenilee Harrison is an American actress possibly best known for her role as the replacement "dumb blonde" roommate Cindy Snow on the hit sitcom Three's Company, between 1980 and 1982. She went on to play Jamie Ewing in Dallas from 1984 to 1986.

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I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
--Abraham Lincoln
    

Liberty Is More Than Just A Word

The first paragraph  from Wikipedia states: The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad.

(Emphasis in the text is mine) to caution the reader that:



"A broken chain can be renewed, repaired, or reforged."

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Tucson Weather Today


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WORD FOR TODAY

liberty
noun
-  freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.
-  freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.
-  freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.
-  power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.
-  freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint.

Liberty is the ability of individuals to have control over their own actions.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Edwin Buzz Aldrin


Born Jan 20, 1930
Age:  82 years old

Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. is an American astronaut, and the second person to walk on the Moon. He was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. On July 20, 1969, he set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. He is also a retired United States Air Force pilot.

DeForest Kelley


Born Jan 20, 1920
Died Jun 11, 1999

Jackson DeForest Kelley was an American actor, screenwriter, poet and singer known for his iconic roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek.

George Burns


Born: Jan. 20, 1896
Died March 9, 1996

George Burns, born Naftaly (Nathan) Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer. He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century. On television, The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show put faces to the radio characters audiences had come to love.

Beginning at the age of 79, Burns' career was resurrected as an amiable, beloved and unusually active old comedian, continuing to work until shortly before his death.

In 1977, Burns made another hit film, Oh, God!, which inspired two sequels Oh, God! Book II and Oh, God! You Devil, in which Burns played a dual role as God and the Devil.

Arte Johnson


Born Jan. 20, 1929
Age:   83 years old

Arthur Stanton Eric "Arte" Johnson is an American comic actor. Johnson was a regular on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. His best-remembered "character" was that of a German soldier with the catchphrase: "Verrrry interesting, but...['stupid', 'not very funny', and other variations]".

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Elections are held to delude the populace into believing that they are participating in government.
--Gerald F. Lieberman
    

GUN OWNERSHIP

    

Tucson Weather Today

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I suppose that a lifetime of reading has influenced my outlook on gun ownership and the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but I believe wholeheartedly in the motto: "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free."

The Weapon Shops of Isher written by A.E. Van Vogt is a novel in which the populace is provided with defensive weapons to use against the power of the government. The book is one of the very few examples of Golden Age science fiction that explicitly discusses the right to keep and bear arms, specifically guns. Indeed, the motto of the Weapon Shops, repeated several times, is "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free".

Book review of The Weapon Shops of Isher

Additionally . . .

From the book, 1984 via Wikipedia --

"Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life--the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language--and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written."

Government, I believe, (all government) strives always to seize more and more power from its citizenry until it finally wields total control, as is depicted in 1984.

And I believe:

The Democratic Party of The United States of America is dedicated to eventually gaining complete power over all of the citizens of the nation by establishing absolute economic dependency on the government.

The Republican Party of The United States of America is dedicated to eventually gaining complete power over all citizens of the nation by establishing absolute domination by a pseudo-theocratic wealth backed government.

 The National Rifle Association exists as a political force opposing totalitarianism by guaranteeing that the citizens of The United States of America, the people can own a gun to protect themselves against the creeping beast that is totalitarianism.

That is what I believe.

I'm not saying I'm right.

I am saying that's what I believe.

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WORD FOR TODAY

totalitarian [toh-tahl-uh-TARE-ee-uhn]
Adjective
Of or relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.
Noun
A person advocating such a system of government.

From Dictionary.com --
1.
of or pertaining to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life.
2.
exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others.
Synonyms
absolute, authoritarian, autocratic, communist, despotic, fascistic, monolithic, one-party, oppressive, total, totalistic, tyrannical

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Richard Moll


Born Jan 13, 1943
Age:  69 years old

Charles Richard Moll (born January 13, 1943) is an American actor and voice artist, best known for playing Bull Shannon, the bailiff on the NBC sitcom Night Court from 1984 to 1992. Moll has also done extensive work as a voice actor, typically using his deep voice to portray villainous characters in cartoons and video games.

Julia Louis Dreyfus


Born Jan 13, 1961
Age:  51 years old

Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress, comedian and producer, well known for her roles in Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and her current series Veep. She also voiced Atta in A Bug's Life.

Charles Nelson Reilly


Born Jan. 13, 1931
Died May 25, 2007

Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director, and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in stages, films, children's television, cartoons, and a game show panelist on Match Game.

Robert Stack

Born Jan. 13, 1919
Died  May 14, 2003

Robert Stack was a multilingual American actor and television host. In addition to acting in more than 40 feature films, he starred in the 1959–63 television series The Untouchables and later hosted Unsolved Mysteries.

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They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
--Benjamin Franklin

A Title Is Such A Tiresome Necessity

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Attention!

My weight today is 155.2 pound.

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My new word for today is phrop and I'll bet it's new to you, too.

In one of his most excellent entries, Michael Quinion wrote:

Sir Arnold Lunn invented the name "phrops" for these euphemistic phrases that do not wear their true meaning on their face. Examples of phrops are "we must have lunch sometime", and "we must keep in touch", both of which actually mean "my life’s ambition is never to meet you again".

Now I am constantly on the lookout as I read news reports, blog entries, and even novels for more examples of these phrops.

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ASH WEDNESDAY

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent --

From Wikipedia:

Ash Wednesday, in the Western Christian calendar, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days (40 days not counting Sundays) before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 (February 5 on leap years) or as late as March 10. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of repentance.


The ashes used are typically gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. In the liturgical practice of some churches, the ashes are mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens (one of the sacred oils used to anoint those about to be baptized), though some churches use ordinary oil. This paste is used by the minister who presides at the service to make the sign of the cross, first upon his or her own forehead and then on those of congregants.

Good Grief! I don't know what more to say about that.

But eventually I'll think of something.

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The Poetry Radio Project offers audio recordings of poems and famous people speaking their thoughts about poems and poets.

I found Godzilla's Avocado by Thomas Sayers Ellis to be fascinating.

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What is the difference between freedom and liberty is one of those annoyingly recurring questions I have asked myself. Finally, I decided to look it up and see what others have to say about it.

According to Merriam-Webster:

FREEDOM

1 the quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another: INDEPENDENCE c: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous d: EASE, FACILITY e: the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken f: improper familiarity g: boldness of conception or execution h: unrestricted use

2 a: political right b: FRANCHISE, PRIVILEGE synonyms FREEDOM, LIBERTY, LICENSE mean the power or condition of acting without compulsion. FREEDOM has a broad range of application from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated. LIBERTY suggests release from former restraint or compulsion . LICENSE implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom.


The attempt by Merriam-Webster is not enough. I still don't see the difference. So, I guess that my best choice is to give this question some more thought.

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It seems that I never get tired of reading or listening to certain poems. And this is one of them:


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


No, I did not get formal permission to reproduce the above poem.

If the copyright owner asks me to, I will immediately remove it.

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A poem is "never a put-up job.... It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a loneliness. It is never a thought to begin with. It is at its best when it is a tantalizing vagueness."
--Robert Frost