social – United States of Anthony

Potheads or Police. Who’s the real threat to America?

By anthonytaurus July 30, 2012 0

An often overlooked casualty in the War on Drugs is the American family. The US government promotes this heightened level of violence against American families with the false explanation that they’re trying to protect the American people. It’s nonsense. To this day, no one can justify the violence enacted when a man’s home is raided and the “authorities” find what turns out to be a few grams of marijuana or a few plants.

How many fathers have been senselessly murdered? How many mothers have been killed? How many children have had their lives shortened? Damn it, how many pets have been viciously put down? Over what – a few grams of marijuana, a couple of plants, a rumor from a neighbor? Then they claim they’re trying to protect the community. When you sit down and THINK about it all, WHAT DANGER IS THE COMMUNITY FACING? Did dad mow his lawn too early in the morning? Was mom taking her kids to the park too often? Did the children sell sour lemonade at the lemonade stand? What’s the justification for law enforcement to murder innocent people?

How exactly are Americans being protected here when we are all under threat from criminals and criminal police officers?

On one side, we have thugs with guns, selling drugs, and killing each other in the street with stray bullets finding bystanders. On the other side, we have thugs with badges, selling drugs, and killing us in our homes. I guess it’s better because the guns are aimed at innocent men, women, and children so no stray bullets. The sad part is that the only consolation we will ever get is that maybe the first set of thugs will be arrested, indicted, and convicted. When it comes to the badged thugs, there is no justice. So, they have MORE incentive to do it again and again and again. It’s not going to stop.

The simple answer to the question is: We aren’t safe. We aren’t protected. In fact, because of law enforcement we’re in more danger than ever before.

Consider this hypothetical: I’m a marijuana grower. I grow for my own personal use. I use products from American and Canadian companies. I’ve earned a BBA in Marketing Management. I develop marketing plans and do design work. I go out once in a while but I mostly prefer to stay home. I don’t drink alcohol nor do I smoke tobacco. I like to relax with joint of marijuana.

What threat do I pose to you? How much safer are you if I am shot dead in cold blood? Who’s more of a threat to you/your family – a hungry pothead that’s half asleep or a SWAT team that doesn’t have a problem blowing an 11yo child’s heart out of his chest with a shotgun to the back and will get away with it? If you think I exaggerate, look up “Alberto Sepulveda” and welcome to America.

Categories: Legacy, Opinion

Another Reason Marijuana Prohibition Won’t Win

By anthonytaurus March 17, 2010 0

I was walking back home from the store when I noticed something and thought I should take a picture:

Yes, those are simple plants, growing in the corner between the base of a building and the sidewalk. There isn’t much sunlight on this particular block. Beyond that, there isn’t much soil for the roots either. As far as a water source, the closest this plant will get is rain water. For most people, this plant shouldn’t even exist.

Yet, there it is. Life.

I wonder if the proponents of prohibition understand this level of resilience and strength.

Sure, the building’s superintendent will probably scrape out those plants as he cleans up the sidewalk. Law enforcement is no different. They’ll scrape out whatever marijuana plants they can find. As both the super and law enforcement know, it’s a plant and it’ll be back.

Even if you tear up the foundation of the building and tear up the sidewalk, the plant will be back. It’s not going anywhere. If you think about it, to get that sidewalk and build that foundation, plants were already destroyed.

That’s the marijuana movement folks. We’re just like that plant. You feel we don’t belong. You feel we should be eliminated. You’ll get a few here and there. But, even without the light, without a true foundation, and without a source of food, we’re still here. Even if you get every last root, we’ll be back with the wind.

70+ years later, we’re still here, old plants and new plants. We’re all still here.

Nope. Prohibition won’t win. You folks simply don’t understand the resilience and strength of a plant.

Categories: Legacy, Opinion

Marijuana Does NOT Cause Psychosis

By anthonytaurus February 28, 2010 13

So, I’ve been pretty much inundated with nonsensical articles about marijuana causing psychosis. While many people have set the record straight on this issue in the past, it keeps coming back as some new article. Simply put, someone put together a half-assed study and somehow came to the conclusion that marijuana caused psychosis – schizophrenia, etc.

Well, let’s set the record straight again…

No, marijuana does not cause psychosis. This is more prohibitionist, drug war lies to keep marijuana criminalized. They purposely confuse causation and correlation. In other words, does marijuana use cause psychosis or is it the case that people who are predisposed to psychosis seek drugs most likely as a way to cope with their psychosis?

Instead, the authors of articles, most likely inspired by prohibitionists, purposely leave out many facts. For instance, what other factors in their lives may have affected the subjects mentally?

For example, you may see a 65yo man with mental problems claim he’s been using marijuana for 20 years. And, that’s pretty much all the study took into consideration – marijuana use. Well, what if that 65yo man was a Vietnam War veteran? Wouldn’t the hardships of war contribute to a psychosis? What about potential exposure to chemicals used by the military during the Vietnam War such as Agent Orange? How do you factor the possibility that 65yo man’s other habits may have included alcohol and cocaine abuse?

These factors are NOT considered in these studies. That is why, many times, these studies are debunked and ignored (yet again).

Yet, prohibitionists pick them up and sensationalize them to make our friends and families seem like they are crazy animals instead of decent human beings. The prohibitionists are losing the war on marijuana and they know it. So, they trot out these old, tired arguments that have been debunked time and time again because for many people, this is new information. As I know, this is not new information nor is it a “new” study.

Even before these studies came about, during prohibition’s early days, marijuana was painted as causing psychosis. Documentaries developed in the 30s portrayed marijuana users as everything from out of control young girls to crazed murderers. Law enforcement tried to blame many crimes of that time on marijuana use as is the case with Victor Licata. So, there is a long history dating back to the initial days of prohibition in which law enforcement tries to connect psychosis to marijuana.

The more you educate yourself and educate one another against the misinformation campaign by prohibitionists, we find more and more that marijuana is not the dangerous killer drug that it’s made out to be.

Education is legalization.

Enforcement of marijuana prohibition costs American taxpayers approximately $12,000,000,000 (billion) per year (which goes directly into the pockets of prohibitionists). With politicians interested in cutting spending, wouldn’t it be nice to cut $12,000,000,000 from the budget by legalizing marijuana? Imagine the tax revenues that can be received if marijuana were legalized in the form of new businesses and jobs that can increase tax revenues across the board.

Law enforcement could also do more to solve real crime instead of wasting their time and tax payer funds on petty marijuana arrests.

Categories: Legacy, Reality Check

Marijuana: Legalization vs Prohibition and Children

By anthonytaurus October 18, 2009 3

Children as a tool for prohibition

One thing that prohibitionists use to keep marijuana illegal is the fear that legalization will be a danger to children. Children seems to be the door into the heart of a parent. Prohibitionists lie about marijuana’s use, effects, and its users. One on side, you have the local, state, and federal authorities who get people to believe that marijuana users are dangerous. On the other side, you have organizations who want you to believe that potheads are lazy, unemployed, losers. In both of these ways, they strike fear into parents about what their children will become if they started using marijuana.

What mother wants to hear that her child will become from raving maniac after using marijuana? What father wants to hear that his son might end up lazy and worthless in the home after trying marijuana? If you’re a parent that doesn’t know anything about marijuana, you’d play it on the safe side doing what you can to keep your children from using marijuana. It makes sense to me. I’d do the same thing if I were walking in their shoes.

But, the difference between myself and these parents is that I know all about marijuana. I know the good and I know the bad. Although this is not about the safety of marijuana, I’d be foolish to not at least mention this once: Marijuana is safe! The point of this is to present the argument to a parent who believes that marijuana is dangerous.

I prefer to compare prohibition to legalization as it pertains to the safety of children.

Prohibition vs Legalization

We know what prohibition brings us. We’re living it. Every year, billions of tax payer funds are spent fighting this war on drugs. Millions of marijuana plants are eradicated every harvest season. Hundreds of thousands of people are arrested and/or incarcerated for anything from a joint to pounds of marijuana. Hundreds of indoor grow ops are torn apart.

That all sounds good. If you pay attention to what law enforcement is doing, you’d feel they were doing a lot. But, how does this all factor into the protection of your children?

Well, if it’s fair, we can say that the amount of marijuana that gets into the United States is directly related to the ease of access by your children. The more marijuana in the US, the more available it will be in your area. To get a good idea of how much marijuana gets into the US, we have to look at what law enforcement’s eradication efforts really mean as a total of all marijuana. In other words, how much does law enforcement shave off of the total supply? The answer – law enforcement’s eradication efforts account for only 5-10% of all the marijuana that gets into the nation. In other words, the remaining inventory of marijuana in the US is about 90% and higher. That means your children have a much better chance of finding marijuana than law enforcement is admitting. The point is that marijuana is free flowing and freely available in the United States.

Anecdotes
The first time I ever tried marijuana was when I was 14. I didn’t get high so I didn’t think about it again. The next time I smoked marijuana was when I was 16. I got very high but it wasn’t something that would stay with me. My friend got that marijuana from a dealer both times. I didn’t smoke again until I was 23.

I am now 30 years old. About 3 weeks ago, I was on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, NY. I went into the store with friends to buy cigars (used for rolling marijuana blunts) and the clerk asked me for ID. I found it hilarious. I hadn’t been carded in a long time. My friends told me that I still have a baby face. It reminds me of times when I go into ask for an alcoholic drink in a restaurant and the server asks for my ID. They ask for IDs in clubs, bars, and lounges. If it’s got an age requirement, they want to see ID.

If you’re a parent, like my own parents, my friends’ parents and some of my friends now, you know you can not be there all of the time. The best you can do is teach your children right from wrong and hope they don’t get into any trouble. But, they do. You were once a child, as I was, and the one thing we did was get into trouble.

The question that I have for parents: When your children are introduced to marijuana, do you want it to be from a dealer on the street or store clerk that will ask for ID?

Think about it.

How many children have you seen walk into a liquor store? Even in regular grocery stores, what are the chances that a baby-faced kid can walk out with a bottle of beer or a pack of cigarettes?

Under legalization, regulation is necessary. That means, the same controls in place for adult items – tobacco, alcohol, pornography – is the same controls that would be placed on marijuana. Chances are it would be sold alongside tobacco products in a tobacco shop. Maybe, marijuana would be sold in grocery stores. The common thread here is that all these locations offer control, more control than what is offered by a dealer on the corner.

Prohibition won’t protect your children

Prohibitionists claim that marijuana is dangerous to children. How can they advocate for a system that gives control of such a dangerous substance to criminals? How can they claim that they want to protect children while promoting a black market that don’t have a reason to care about children?

You can believe that marijuana is the most dangerous substance in the world. It doesn’t matter how you feel about marijuana. What matters is that we protect children. Prohibition didn’t protect me then, it doesn’t protect your children now, and it won’t protect your children tomorrow.

Categories: Legacy, Prohibitionist Idiots

Police Corruption: Victims R Us

By anthonytaurus January 23, 2009 3

Are Black and Hispanic folks safe?

White folks have it easy?

What about news reporters, women, children???

Things are much easier around the world, I bet.

The Cost of Bad Police Policy

This just really shows that it’s never going to matter how much money is involved or the training given, police are bad for one reason: they’re allowed to get away with it. And, even if they don’t fully get away with it, very few actually will do any time in jail for the crimes they commit against innocent people. As long as they’re protected, the people remain unprotected and we all deserve equal protection under the law.

And, who gets the bill when police officers get a slap on the wrist? Do you think police departments have “Oops We Hurt/Killed Another Citizen” insurance plan? Yes they do actually. That’s what the tax payers are for, you and me. Every time you hear about a court case against a police officer, think about the funds it takes to prosecute/defend that criminal cop. That’s some number of potholes the streets could fill. Think about all of the cases settled for five- and six-figures. That money represents the teachers we could hire, in quality and quantity, books for school, and music and arts programs. Now think about all of the seven- and eight-figure settlements. Cities could easily support new infrastructure programs, create more jobs, help strengthen the economy. Think about the toll on society as even decent law abiding citizens are more frightened of police than the criminals they’re supposed to catch because they’re one and the same.

Categories: Legacy, Opinion

Legal Marijuana Industry: From Seed to Ash

By anthonytaurus January 5, 2009 1

Old ideas die as new ideas are born

As many more people come to their senses in regards to marijuana policy, states run into problems with how to handle and manage marijuana through cultivation, harvesting, distribution, taxation, and usage. For example, in Massachusetts, the police are actually crying about how to proceed with the change in laws mostly because they don’t want to enforce common sense drug policy [link]. Therefore, I wanted to basically develop a simple framework that may help states now and the whole US in the future in developing common sense business model for a lucrative marijuana industry.

FYI: Medical Marijuana
I won’t be saying much on how to pursue a business model in regards to medical marijuana. I think it’s just a small speed bump in the way of total legalization. The problem with medical marijuana is that doctors don’t fully understand marijuana nor do they know how to prescribe it. They may prescribe too much or not enough.

On top of that, medical marijuana does not do anything to address the criminal/black market aspect that the USA’s prohibition has created. As long as marijuana isn’t free to purchase legally, it will always be a thorn in the side of this nation, placed by Uncle Sam. It needs to be eliminated from the Controlled Substances Act altogether. As long as the arrogance and ignorance of the baby boomer generation have a strangle hold on American society, we won’t see that happen anytime soon.

So, I continue this model with the idea in mind that marijuana is 100% legal much like the more fatally harmful alcohol and tobacco industry.

Let’s Go: Supply and “Manufacturing”

Every industry needs suppliers. The Marijuana Industry is no different, obviously. So, who will be our suppliers. Well, in the marijuana world, we call them growers. But, in the regular world, they’d be considered farmers. Just as much of the great lands of America is used for farming, it can be used for growing marijuana. If farmers don’t want to grow good marijuana, there are many nations around the globe that are very much willing to take their place. South Africa, Mexico, and Vietnam are just a few places that can grow good marijuana although Mexican quality tends to be lacking. However, when competition becomes an issue, I would easily bet that Mexico will step their game up in a big way.

Regulations
We really don’t want another meat packing industry fiasco of so many decades ago. And, we definitely don’t want the “1,001” chemicals the tobacco industry uses to cure their goods either. Look what’s happening in China – lead in toys, melamine in milk, antifreeze in toothpaste. So, I think it’d be intelligent to have common sense regulations on how marijuana is grown, harvested, dried, cured, and packaged in the safest way possible for people in general and the environment. That is, stay away from unnecessary chemicals AND allow for warnings on the package is chemicals were used.

We marijuana smokers appreciate the safety of marijuana. We’d like to keep it that way.

Distribution: Planes, Trains, Boats, Automobiles

Distribution is simple. We’ve just got to figure out how to get prepared marijuana into the hands of the consumers demanding it. Honestly, there’s really no need for any special consideration outside of what’s already in place for the distribution of alcohol and tobacco.

Consumers can go to their favorite stores, or head shops. Buy what you want much like going to a liquor store or “ye olde smoke shoppe” and so on. Honestly, we don’t really need to devise any new plans. Take a stroll in the village and visit the many head shops that already exist. All they would need to do is clear out some inventory to make room for all the marijuana that store will buy.

Nat Sherman [link]
If you’re in NYC, check out Nat Sherman on the corner of 42nd Street and 6th Ave across from the NY Public Library and Bryant Park. It’s a very nice tobacco shop. They sell cigars , special cigarettes, and loose tobacco in large jars among other things. They have very good items in stock for the tobacco fan (and marijuana connoisseur). In my opinion, Nat Sherman is very classy, somewhat upscale, yet very inviting. If marijuana were legal, I’d model my head shop after Nat Sherman.

Law Enforcement: Shut Up and Do Your Damn Job

Hey, laws are changing everyday. The burden on police officers is real. However, with marijuana legalization and regulation, the police have a burden lifted off of their shoulders much like the activist group, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) prefers. Unfortunately, too many police officers complain about the changing laws. Why complain about a change in the law that will alleviate problems all around? It really all comes down to the psyche of those that are police officers. They like raiding homes, beating up “bad guys”, and having free reign of the city.

Marijuana is one of those substances that easy to find on a person, especially those who don’t hide it well. Most importantly, marijuana users are too stoned to put up a fight. That’s why police officers target marijuana users. Ask any officer willing to be honest. They’ll tell you, they prefer to pick up potheads because potheads don’t walk around with weapons and don’t act crazy like drunks and meth/coke/heroin addicts. Also, it looks good as far as numbers are concerned. Officers quickly say how many people they arrested but we never know the details of that arrest.

Let’s be honest, would you have more respect for a police officer who caught 5 rapists and 10 murderers or the guy that arrested 200 potheads? What’s sad is the time it takes to book 1 pothead is the same time it takes to book 1 rapist. Police are racking up massive overtime hours on meaningless small time marijuana possession arrests, a burden on taxpayers to say the least. Now that the law has changed, they can’t go crazy on an adrenaline rush, much like a heroin rush, busting down doors and arresting people for simple possession. Furthermore, they have to deal with REAL criminals now.

“We Card” [link]
That’s the program that was put into place dictating to people buying alcohol or tobacco that the establishment expects to see identification regardless of what you look like. So, just as a 5yo child is supposed to be carded, so would a 105yo adult. There are already regulations in place for that.

It’s much better than Billy selling to your child in the cul-de-sac. And, there are a million Billies out there selling all kinds of drugs and they don’t even offer the promise that they’ll card your kid. Which program would you prefer, in the interest of protecting the community, of course?

Pricing and Taxation: Be Easy

First of all, marijuana is cheap.. well.. cheap if it were legal. The prices attached to marijuana today are severely inflated due to prohibition. There is more of a risk to providing marijuana, therefore the price has gone up considerably. However, the prices would drop tremendously once legalized as marijuana coming from other nations around the world already carry incredibly low prices direct from the grower. Let’s be honest, the only reason to keep marijuana illegal is the enormously inflated profit margin. At any rate, I could easily see marijuana having prices equal to that of cigarettes.

Unfortunately, I also see marijuana being taxed heavily. I’d advise against very high taxes. There is still a very strong underground marijuana market. If the United States continues this policy of prohibition, the future of marijuana will become small personal grows in millions of households in the United States making it unnecessary for the many large farms that pop up and more difficult for the justice system to handle. If taxes are so high that it creates a defacto prohibition, the United States will create another black market and not meet the income tax potential of a legal marijuana industry.

Case Study: NYC and cigarette taxes
Mayor after mayor has seen it fit to tax cigarettes viciously. While sales have gone down, a black market was created and their sales have gone up. Walk around the streets of NYC and listen. There are guys selling packs of cigarettes for about $4 to $5. And, it’s very much illegal to do so. People have friends or family in other states buy cartons of cigarettes and mail them to addreses in NYC.

There’s a whole supply/demand and distrubution system in place for low cost cigarettes and NYC loses out on that potential tax revenue. Furthermore, the cost to the city is increased due to arresting and detaining these individuals. So, any benefit created from higher taxes on cigarettes is immediately nullified.

Conclusion: Society won’t change in the long run

The truth of the situation is that marijuana can be legal tomorrow and the only problem it would cause is possibly a few months of joyful smoking in public. I know that’s what I will be doing. And, I won’t say that marijuana will heal the economy or do something epic. But, it will relieve a lot of the problems caused by prohibition, introduce a safer alternative to alcohol and tobacco, and support a hemp-based industry that can provide raw materials to many other industries.

And, that is a lot better than what we’re doing now.

I look forward to a greener future.

Categories: Guide, Legacy

I am not Mr. Pothead

By anthonytaurus December 30, 2008 3

Intro

It’s funny how people act or react when they find out someone else is involved with marijuana. People who were once glorified in their respective professions, awarded for their accomplishments, turn into thugs and criminals over night.

A doctor who prescribes marijuana to patients becomes a drug dealer.

A police officer joins LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) and becomes a traitor.

A teen is caught smoking a joint and becomes a junkie.

A longtime friend admits marijuana use and becomes an outcast.

A society that once saw a hero, now sees a villain. Something is wrong this picture.

President Anthony is not Mr. Pothead

I’ll use myself as an example. I have been smoking marijuana for about 6 years now. While many people know, many don’t know. But, when they do find out, a lot changes. I am no longer a simple person anymore. I am whatever I was before plus the term “pothead”, almost like a last name. Before, I was cute, educated, smart, and many other things. Today, to those so-called friends, I am a cute pothead, educated pothead, and a smart pothead.

It’s not so much the “pothead” that bothers me. Yes, I am a pothead.. well.. a marijuana connoisseur better describes me. But, it’s that arrogant derogatory usage that gets to me when non-marijuana users use it. It’s like being called “black” by a completely up-turned nose white person. Most darker skin folks understand what I mean as they’ve most likely experienced the usage toward them. You can almost sense the arrogance in the tone and that they think less of you.

The truth…

…is that there’s nothing that person can do or say to make things better because it’s not the terms they use but the way in which they used those terms that does the damage. And the damage multiplier is when it comes from a longtime friend/family or client or patient or coworker. This person knows you. They never could discern the difference when you were high or sober – driving, talking, walking, gaming, etc. I always find it HILARIOUS when those cancer smoking and alcohol drinking friends accuse me of being high when I hadn’t smoked anything in more than a week. But, now they KNOW more about you, you’ve become Mr. or Ms. Pothead.

So, the question then becomes, what changed?

Yes, I am okay.

I didn’t change. I am still me. Just yesterday, we were doing this and doing that. You didn’t know I was high. For years, you never knew I was high. You never even thought anything was strange with me. All of a sudden, you’re cutting your eye at me. You’re treating me different. You’re asking if I am okay. I have been just as okay as you’ve known me for the past six years when you never knew I smoked marijuana. Why should my current state of well being be questioned now? Why should it be questioned when I wasn’t even smoking anything?

In fact, I am NOT okay. I am actually very sober and I NEED to get high just so that I can tolerate your NEW bullshit.

Silver Lining

Eventually, people grow up. Look at the United States. In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act included marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic. Thirty years later, marijuana has been decriminalized in many states and 14 states have medical marijuana laws. The more friends get to see you high, the more they realize that marijuana is not some evil addictive narcotic. I won’t glorify marijuana. But, there’s a reason more and more people are smoking marijuana today. There’s a reason for the state-by-state change in marijuana policy. There’s a reason why quite a few of my friends seem to be coming out of the closet.

It’s because many of us potheads have put up with the bullshit long enough that others can stop acting like complete idiots, adjust their arrogance, alleviate their ignorance, and even move toward actually smoking with you instead of looking down on you.

Categories: Legacy, Opinion

Wakeup: Back to Reagan’s Drug War

By anthonytaurus October 18, 2008 6

In this war on drugs, there is one question that every poor Black and Hispanic person in the inner city – the dealers, the users, and the innocent bystanders – wants answered, “How do these substances get into our neighborhood?”

This question comes about because there is a disconnect in the flow of drugs. For example, if you wanted to track how a car got into your neighborhood, you can track it from the manufacturer through the distribution system – trucks, trains, planes, and car salesmen – into the hands of the owner. However, when it comes to drugs we don’t know the distribution system. The one question that always comes up is, “if the US government wants to stop the flow of drugs, why don’t they go after the manufacturers instead of the low-level dealers?”

The answer: The US government IS the distribution system that facilitates the flow of crack, cocaine, and heroin into the nation and the inner city.

I know it all sounds like a conspiracy theory – “Oh, the big dangerous government is out to get us!” Sure, it sounds crazy. Unfortunately, it’s so crazy that it’s true. Listen to former DEA agent Celerino Castillo tell you about his experiences in Central and South America. It’s a two part video, about an hour long total.

Folks, it’s important to understand that this is NOT coming from the mouth of some paranoid crackhead. This is from the mouth of a man who was IN it all. Here are the video interview of former DEA agent Celerino Castillo:

The one thing that stood out to me before the end of the second video is that Mr. Castillo confirmed the fears that I had about heroin production in Afghanistan. I watched news reports that the US military wouldn’t destroy poppy fields as they showed clips of US soldiers walking through. The one thing I knew about the Taliban in Afghanistan, they are staunch Muslims. They fought drug dealers in Afghanistan and punished them harshly with death. All of a sudden, the US comes starts the War on Terror and Afghanistan is now producing 90% of the world’s heroin.

Folks, this is NOT Usher and Tameka getting a divorce. This is NOT some celebrity sex tape. This is NOT the latest Hip Hop beef. This is the Reagan era revisited. This is the crack/cocaine/heroin epidemic. This is high levels of unemployment and depressed individuals looking for an escape. This is blood-stained sidewalks and kids dying over cheap gold chains and nice sneakers. This is what I remember from the 80s under two terms of Ronald Reagan and one term of George HW Bush. We’re going back to these times thanks to two terms of George W. Bush.

The only thing that’s truly going to save our communities is the will to resist. We’ve got to be reminded of the harm done to us by this fake war on drugs. We have to be stronger than our parents were during the 80s. We have to make sure to NOT succumb to the ease of drug money and NOT look for escape in substances. This shit is coming to our doorsteps. The best thing we can do is be prepared.

Categories: Legacy, Opinion

Big Brother Works Both Ways

By anthonytaurus September 17, 2008 5

The minute we’re born, the doctor slaps our little bottoms and the nurse enters our information into a computer database. This is something that we have to accept in this digital world. Let’s call it the Matrix. Yes, I like that, too. At any point in time, our entire lives can be opened like a book or a computer folder. Everything that we were, are, and will become exists in this folder and its subfolders on computers around the world. All it takes is for someone to compile this information to get a detailed view of who and what we are.This is the “Big Brother” that we’ve all talked about – someone is always watching and always listening. This is the very purpose of Bush’s unwarranted wiretapping on American citizens. Every step we take is tracked – cellphone, email, computer, internet, credit cards, etc etc etc. Every letter I type in this very blog post is dynamically screened to weed out for specific words – bomb, kill, anthrax, suicide, allah, islam, bush, and so on. In fact, I may have just set off some red flags in Dick Cheney’s basement.

But, today, I read something that gives me some comfort.

Sarah Palin had her email accounts hacked. Politically, this didn’t reveal much so far. It seems these were just personal email accounts that she may have used for government business. Of course, this leads to other potential implications of wrongdoing. Pastebin, Wikileaks and Gawker all have something related to Sarah Palin’s email being hacked which you can see for yourself – screenshots, pictures, emails. But, that’s not what this post is about although it’s a strong example.

See, a group, or pseudo-group, of hackers known as Anonymous did the dirty work of breaking into Sarah Palin’s email. It gives me comfort because it lets me realize that there is someone out there, a group of someones, with the ability to fight fire with fire. It’s similar to the slaughter of the Native Americans as they tried to fight gunpowder and spheres made of metal with bows and arrows made from wood.

We live in a true Matrix and we’ve got to be able to fight back digitally. We, the people, need hackers as the government has hackers and as corporations have hackers that can be, will be, and have been used against us. This hacking lets me know that not even government officials are safe from the system they’ve developed. There is always someone out there watching and listening. And, those kinds of individuals exist on both teams.

However, I do fear, as an ordinary individual, that this loose group of digitally savvy individuals has no set conscience, rules, ethics, or laws. But, that is the nature of those that live in secrecy. We have to trust that there is some good and hope that there is more good than bad.

Update: Please be sure to check out the comments to this post by “Anonymous”. The name doesn’t imply that it is a representative of the group Anonymous. The name only shows up because the person didn’t identify themselves. But, it’s important to get a better understanding of the positive value of hackers from a true hacker’s perspective.

Categories: Legacy, Reality Check

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