[ExI] Web's Reach Binds N.S.A. and Silicon Valley Leaders

spike spike at rainier66.com
Sat Jun 22 02:25:52 UTC 2013


 

 

>. On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
>.

 

>>.Ja, but as far as I know the IRS is the only agency which has the power
to deeply impact you personally, by calling you in for an audit.  If they
decide they don't like you for whatever reason, I know of no avenue of
appeal.

  

>.While it isn't federal, the Division of Child and Family Services operates
under nearly identical impunity to checks and balances. They can't take away
your freedom (directly), but they can take away your children.. -Kelly

 

Thanks Kelly.  I hadn't really thought of it that way, but you are right.

 

Imagine this scenario.  We know that the IRS has the authority to put a
padlock on the door of your business, and leave that lock there until they
complete their investigation.  We have seen where an investigation can die
on someone's desk for no apparent reason.  Imagine you have a business and
you find a lock on the front door one morning with a big NO TRESPASSING
sign.  You ask why.  A week later you hear it is for an investigation, they
will get back with you.  You ask if you can go inside to water your plants.
Two weeks later your receive: NO, get cacti for your office, some species
can live for over a year without being watered.  You ask if you might go in
to feed your tropical fish in the office aquarium.  Four weeks later, you
receive:  NO, the bigger ones will devour the smaller ones, as is the way of
the world.  In panicky desperation you explain that your office building
houses a number of scaled-up thermos bottles which contain severed human
heads; therefore you need to get inside the office to replenish the supply
of liquid nitrogen, for otherwise these cryonauts will thaw and perish. 

 

Twenty minutes later, three husky lads in white lab coats show up,
introducing you to a sturdy canvas jacket with a number of buckles and
straps.  You are never heard from again.

 

I fervently request all ExI-chatters to pay close attention to what is
happening in the US.  I reprove myself for not paying closer attention to
this back in the days when others were calling attention to it.  We have
gradually made a transition from paper mail (slow but very secure) to email
which is now known to be impossible to completely secure.  Eugen gets it,
which is understandable and commendable, considering where he is from.
Clearly he is one who learned from history.

 

What we have seen is a part of the political spectrum which was, and is
still being stifled by powerful government forces, without consequences to
the agency doing the silencing.  If we let this pass and do nothing, then
clearly we have not learned from history.  The event of modern times about
which there are more books written than perhaps any other topic is the rise
of a brutal dictatorship from a European democracy in one decade (Eugen, do
feel free to comment.)  If we sit and watch while that happens again, then
all those books are words, just words, written in vain, for we have learned
nothing from that bitter experience, not one goddam thing.  First they came
for the Tea Party, but I am not a tea bagger, so I said nothing.  You can
fill in the rest, but do let me note that in that progression, cryonicists,
transhumanists, extropians, are all on the list of small powerless groups
for which others will likely not speak up if we fail to speak up for the tea
party.

 

Fifty years ago next week, President Kennedy uttered the stirring words Ich
bin ein Berliner!  We are all Berliners now.  First they came for the tea
baggers.

 

spike

 

 

 

 

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