I posted the other day on the need for protecting access to the Internet. It is the one thing left to American citizens to ensure they will remain free. Right now things seem to be all right but we need to think like our Founders did not of ourselves but of those who will come after us. We must do all in our power to make sure the freedom we experience on the Internet remains available to them.
I thought I should follow up with an example of the Internet’s power by telling about what happened in Mexico just recently.
The daughter of a Mexican big shot felt a restaurant did not give her the respect due her because she had a big deal father. She said in effect: “don’t you know who I am?” She then went about to try to have the restaurant shut down.
As you can tell from the article, the people responded in mass. What previously would have been possible, the shutting of a business over a young woman’s pique seems no longer.
No one expected anything to happen other than the restaurant would be left alone. But the uproar was so great and persistent that something did result from it. The people called on her father Humberto Benítez Treviño to resign. He laughed at the outcry. Who were these little people to tell him what to do!
But the voice of the people was heard. President Enrique Peña Nieto felt the heat. He fired the father.
That is the power we need as a people. That is the type of thing that prevents violence when we feel our voice is being heard. We need to protect our access to and ability to speak freely on the Internet. Let’s enshrine it in the Constitution.
Sorry to backtrack to this one, but when I read it again, it struck me as interesting that “the ancient one” (even older than Buffett if you can believe that) – the person that all of Germany (and some key players in this country) is clearly listening to given his recent sales on the best-seller lists- is advising people to spend much less time on the Internet. In fact, according to one report, in some circles he/they are recommending being off the internet (total abstinence) for 6 months at a time or so. The old gent that many Germans are buying up and following is Helmut Schmidt (the former Captain of a Hitler Youth Organization). I also read with interest the recent activities in Omaha with the new FBI Director there (Thomas Metz, I think) and someone else new to those offices. They were holding a huge forum announcing their plans with respect to the Internet, giving the rotary club members ideas on how to protect themselves and their businesses out there. In that meeting they called “cyber crime” the new field or world for “organized crime.” Then, Rudy Guiliani was on some talk show talking about the world moving ever more into cyber security (he works for a cyber security company so no surprise there)…but based on all of that, and Obama’s excessive panic and treatment about “leaks” and the fact that some believe that the Internet gives people too much power to question things, I can’t help but wonder what the FBI’s plans are for the future of the Internet and the freedom of people to express their views or let alone search stuff up out of curiousity or to become “better, more informed” citizens.
Do you think the Boston FBI will host a similar forum out here on the East Coast? Or did they do that already? Did you go? If not, How come Omaha businesses were given the courtesy heads up? Have business organizations in other states been given the same FBI courtesy – in other words, is the FBI in the process of making those public information campaign for businessmen rounds? To that end, where do our business organizations stand at this point? Shouldn’t A.I.M.,the New England Council and all the Chambers of Commerce, rotaries, lions clubs, grand pooh-bahs, etc. around here get on that – maybe have a joint forum? There has to be a reason why Helmut Schmidt is advising Germans to get off it as much as possible. Alas, till the FBI rolls out a more structured, centralized, organized and more efficient public information campaign reaching out to all of the states in a coordinated fashion… in other words, absent the FBI’s fair courtesy to local businesses here on the homefront in Massachusetts…. I guess we will all just have to read Helmut Schmidt’s book “Die Machte der Zukenft: Gewinner and Verlierer in der Welt von morgen.” (The Powers of the Future: Winners and Losers in the World of Tomorrow)to see if there is a clue in it.
WHEN the FBI does host its business information forum here in Massachusetts on cyber/internet world as the new frontier for “organized crime” (they don’t want to appear discriminatory or “state-ist” now do they), maybe you can go as a representative of the Press/Patriot Ledger? (I doubt they will let internet bloggers into the event so you may have to just put on your PL hat)…and if they already did have this forum here (which I doubt), it might be great if you could take a look at all that information, you know all those handy dandy hand outs, power-point presentation summaries, charts, graphs, etc. Hey, maybe that stuff is FOIA-able from those event(s)? This is just my rant in support of local business. I want our businesses here to be given the same heads up and the same advantages that Omaha businesses got – it’s only fair!
Matt: the French had a saying: “There are more old drunks than old doctors.” But as for “stress”, not all stress is bad; it’s that chronic low level nagging unremitted stress that’s bad. Stressful situations, confronted, overcome, survived, can make us stronger. You know Ray Nitsche’s canard: “That which doesn’t destroy me, makes me stronger.” But, I remember my dearly departed lifelong friend Tom Tucker (Tuck was like a younger brother) and I remember what he used to say about stress: “I don’t get headaches; I give headaches.” So, I would caution even the FEDS not to try to wage psy-ops and stress campaigns against the good citizens of Savie, Southie, Dot, Roxberry, Eastie, Mattapan et al and the immediate surrounding Boston suburbs: You know, since Bunker Hill and since Evacuation Day March 17, 1776, we’ve kind of prevailed in the “giving headaches” departments! Forewarned is fore-armed! Do your job and stop harrassing us, or else we’ll sic Tuck and Mac the Dog on you!
Bill:
Nitschke was a poor student but good football player who died in Venice Florida of a heart attack at age 61. He had married a French woman Jackie Forchette who was credited with keeping him in line. I believe all stress is bad and it is best to avoid it. You may think you overcame something but it leaves its scars. I’ll not comment on Tucker other than to agree he gave a lot of people headaches which wasn’t something to brag about. As for the Feda, I suggest they care little about the places you mention which no longer exist as they once did being barely recognizable to people who grew up there years ago. Bunker Hill wasn’t a great success as you might recall.
Matt, yesterday I was downtown at Trinity Church listening to children’s choir sing wonderful American and European classics, such as Oklahoma and Gary Indiana and USA’s 50 States. The day before, Wednesday, I was at a church gathering and this tall lanky soft-looking goof comes in, says something about he’s usually in court, and doesn’t know if he should be here (at the social meeting) and makes no sense, saying a few sentences. I sensed he stank. I sensed he was an intrusive Fed! For God’s sakes, why don’t they do their jobs, mind their own business, and stop sticking their stinking noses into our private spaces? Enough’s enough!!!!!!! I like what you previously quoted about our overly intrusive government trying to intimidate American citizens. We the people should never be in fear or intimidated or stressed out for the slightest second by our government. The government inflicting stress on citizen is unhealthy. Stress, it’s been proven, can cause diseases, including cancers. Read the latest several editions of SCIENCE and SCIENTIFIC AMERICA about teleomeres and how stress itself can cause mutagenic effects in chromosomes. The best remedy is daily exercise, proper nutrition, and meditation and prayer. Relaxations therapy. I call the whole regimen: Yard Work, Yogurt and Yoga!! Rx!!!
Bill:
I don’t think that guy who came to that church gathering was a Fed; they usually like to blend into the background and not call attention to themselves. There’s no doubt that the number one killer of all people, not only Americans, is stress. Stress causes all the ailments known to mankind and while the medical profession looks for links to foods, they overlook the one major thing which is how do people handled stress. What we ingest is important because of how it relates to stress. As the eminent ex-Marine philosopher Paul Burns often said “you never saw them bury a fat man.”
Matt: here’s a copy of the letter I sent to the FBI at the instruction of my friend Captain Paul Barry O’Connor who also directed me to send all photos I’d taken that day which I did. I hand delivered a CD with 60 photos on it to the Offices of the FBI at Circle PLaza across from the JFK building and city hall. HERE’S THE LETTER:MARATHON DAY RECOLLECTIONS (April 15, also 14th and 13th) (written April 17, morning)
I was with my friend Tom who works for the Post Office: I’ve known Tom (GREY SCULLY CAP; GREY SWEATSHIRT)for near 30years, we’d worked out at L-Street daily at around noon. Last big event we attended was the Esplanade, July 4, 2012. Patriot’s Day, we stood at Gucci’s all day. Two weeks earlier I bumped into Tom at the Pru, where we learned about the Irish Dance Championships which I then attended for four days through Easter; the following week I photographed the Greek Independence Day Parade, which I had also photographed in 2009.
On Marathon Monday, Tom and I heard and saw the explosions. We tried to hurry folks off the sidewalks into the Pru; we left after we saw the first victim placed inside the ambulance (she looked like a teenager with a dark dress on). The police were, by then, urging everyone to vacate the area; we urged those around us to make haste. We split: Tom went towards Mass.Ave; I went to Newbury then Comm, then back ( 3+ miles to Tappan St. Brookline, where my car is usually parked. I take the T downtown, which I do often, to take long walks and have coffee at Starbucks)
PHOTOS ARE IN 2 FOLDERS: 4-14, AND 4-15:
The first 3 photos are of Pru/Copley on 4-14; the next 3 of my house, early morn 4-15; then begin the Marathon Pics. (Ever since the Easter Sunrise Service, I’ve been falling asleep too early and getting up too early. I was up early on Marathon Monday; I first went to Fenway (Ace and Scalpers) to see if I could get a cheap ticket; didn’t; then headed to the Pru where I bumped into Tom; he indicated earlier he’d be near that spot b/c the band usually sets up there. There was no band Monday.
The first pic across the street #(1260) shows a man, no hat, jet black-hair, med-drk complexion, small black camera, brown jacket, green shirt, blue jeans, with black vinyl heaving looking bag at his feet standing in front of Walgreens. (Unfortunately my camera records the time at 11:50P.M. on4-4-2013. Subsequent pictures dated 4 – 15 -2013, seem to record the correct time, but p.m/a.m/wrong.)
Pics 1269 &1270 (2 lone men; one with Afghan Hat) were taken almost simultaneously according to my camera’s “properties” data. Lastp photo taken was at 2:27p.m, but my camera’s properties says2:27a.m.
I’m a published photographer (not a pro; an avid enthusiast); I thought about becoming an art or fashion or street/docu photographer when I retired.
SUNDAY: MARCH 14, RIDING HOME FROM PARK STREET I MET A JOGGER(wearing marathon blue jacket, FROM NY, WHO WAS RUNNING HIS FIFTH Or SIXTH BOSTON; we began talking with a lovely animated Saudi Arabian girl who got on at Copley (as I recall) and got off the stop after Cleveland Circle; She wished both of us “good luck tomorrow”: I’d told her I wasn’t running but would watch the Marathon from the finish line; I though then: “Why’s she wishing me good luck?” Her name sounded like Ariyya; med complexion; light accent; fluent; interested in all things Boston; indicated she wouldn’t be seeing Marathon or had school or work; I’m vague about exact words; it’s an impression:wordslikethat!
SATURDAY: MARCH 13 (slight chance it was Fri, as I was therebothdays.) Around Noon-3:00P.M. Stopped for coffee at Starbucks; Young woman (20-24) 5-4, med complx; (Moroccan, Afr-Am. Latino; Meditteranean; Middle Eastern-looking; attractive; sits in red chair in front of me; I’m facing toward street; we’re in Middle of Starbucks; a few minutes later a man (5-10-to 6-00) thin to med build; wearing drk grey orblck waist-lgnth jacket with large hoodie, covering all his face except nose, eyes, brow; I guess he’s African_American or drk skn Latino or drk skin Middle east or Moroccan. They speak quietly; he’s animated, excited, even breathing a bit rapidly; catching breathmaybe; they’re four feet away; at one point she hands him a cellphone and I recollect she says the word “New York”. He was scary (I actually thought then and there that he may explode a bomb then and there; I got an eerie feeling from him; she was nice and natural ( I thought then: “Here’s a young college girl getting mixed up with a psycho screwball left-wing radical hippie. Probably a druggie! Wearing a hoodie, trying to scare people.”)
SO, there’s my impressions as accurate as I can recall them; I began recalling them, of course, after the atrocity, the attack by mass murderers, vicious evil killers of innocents. Hope this stuff is helpful!
Bill:
That’s a good letter and if the FBI needed it I’m sure they would have been in contact with you. All I can say after reading it is that you are lucky the Joker did not go another 80 yards in your direction before dropping the backpack.
Matt: I second Jeff’s and your conclusions. I did want to add this: Boston has been swarming with federal agents since the Marathon Terrorist Attack; I’ve found them to be overly intrusive into private, if not sacred spaces: meetings in Churches, YMCA gyms, L-Street Gyms (I haven’t really been down the L since Wyshak released the serial killers some of whom: Martorano, Pat Nee, Weeks, make L-Street their second home). Feds have swarmed Oak Square, Dorchester, Southie: Who they hell are they looking for? Rather than tracking down Muslim radicals they’re harrassing, following, investigating true-blue Americans. What’s up?
Secondly, I thought enough time has passed that I could share with others what I sent to the FEDs/STATECops/BostonCops on the day after the bombing. I was about 210-240 feet from the second explosion. I saw the huge orange-yellow fireball; I ducked and took about 20 paces (as you know my severe aortic stenosis prevents me from running) and I started shouting at men, women and children to flee, to get into the Prudential Center, to vacate the Pru Plaza; after 20 seconds of shouting, I rejoined my friend Tommy in front of Gucci’s: we continued to exhort people to hustle and flee the area; all along we expected the next shoe to fall: the third and fourth bombs; after about four minutes, we estimate—I saw Tommy Sunday for the first time since the Terrorist Attack—a Boston cop confronted us standing there and Tommy said, “I think he wants us to leave.” I looked in his eyes and surmised immediatley that Tommy was correct. Tommy and I then exhorted people to vacate the Plaza as that is what squads of police were now exhorting them to do. Tommy walked home to the South End; I walked home to about Cleveland Circle where my car was parked. I’ll post the letter I sent on the next page.
Bill:
1. Did you ever hear of shutting the barn door after the horses have galloped off? That’s what the Feds are doing running around and making a general nuisance of themselves acting like they are doing something; they’s soon be back at their desks with their Dunkies coffee as soon as the bosses head back to DC to sit at their desks with their Starbucks while all try to figure out how best to get a raise and grumble about how underpaid they are.
2. In the immediate aftermath of a bombing attack no one knows what is right to do; I saw videos of first responders who seemed as confused as the people around them. That’s to be expected. The cops are under great pressure being like the rest of us not wanting to get blown up and take whatever steps they can under the fog of the moment to secure the area.
Amen, brother.
Were this 1787, the right to unfettered internet access would be enshrined in the First Amendment along with Speech, Press, Assembly and Religion. This is now the most effective way to petition the government for a redress of grievances. It’s no wonder internet freedom is under constant attack from the powers-that-be.
It would also be interesting how a contemporary sitting of the founding fathers would handle the Second Amendment in light of these changed times.
Oh, to be King for about 2 years; the good I could do. Is that too much to ask?
Jeff:
I’ll vote for you next time the opening for King comes up.