Not a Radical

I discovered something the other day. I was referred to as a radical.
Let me explain why I'm not a radical, I just believe that things are fucked up and they need to change.

Supporting a whistle blower is not being a radical.

Supporting someone who said the government isn't representing your best interests abroad doesn't make me a radical, it makes me someone who believes our government doesn't have my best interests in mind when they're starting wars for false reasons.

Supporting someone who told the American people and the world that the government is breaking the fourth amendment on a daily basis doesn't make me a radical, it makes me a concerned citizen and someone who doesn't believe the bullshit the government shoves down my throat through mainstream media outlets.

I think my children should attend decent schools and be taught by teachers who know what they're talking about and not have religion shoved down their throats at a "Public" school paid with my tax money.

My daughter if she's raped shouldn't be told, "You can't do that here."  is she chooses to abort the fetus caused by the rape because a Senator or Congressman has issues with women based on a God and a book that I don't believe in.

I think my children should have healthcare paid by the government, not because I'm a liberal or because I want a welfare state, but because if you're really doing what your God says, you've read the wrong bible.

I believe anyone who bases their prejudices on a book that is thousands of years old needs to reevaluate their reading material, it's 2013!

Not letting someone marry another human they're in love with isn't based on a book, it's based on prejudices that you've carried because your grandparents talked down about gays the way their grandparents talked down about African-Americans. It's not doing what God wants, it's what you want because you're a bigot.

Wanting poor people and the mentally ill to be taken care of doesn't make me a radical it makes me compassionate.

Wanting my government to treat everyone equally, and not base that equality on how much money is in my bank account, the color of my skin, my sexual preference or disability.

Is it really radical to want the troops who've fought in wars which were fought on bullshit pretenses to be taken care of. Whether they have PTSD, been mangled by IED's or have another ailment that should be taken care of by the country they've served valiantly and without complaints. Does that really make me a radical?

If you still believe I'm a radical for all of the reason I've listed, fine, I'm a radical, but you're a sheep.

My Bad TSA Experience.

The event.

This past weekend I attended a book signing for Neil Gaiman in Santa Rosa, CA. The event itself was awesome and I learned a lot from Neil. He's a very funny man and although I didn't get to tell him how much Sandman meant to me growing up, I did get my Absolute Sandman signed by Neil, which was the coolest thing for me.
What happened the day after the event is something different. I've only told my wife this and now, I'm sharing it on One-Zero-One.

I arrived early to the airport, I wasn't sure how many people would be on the flight and I wanted to make sure I got my rental dropped off and everything was situated with my flight.
I turned in my my keys and rental agreement and proceeded toward the security screening, which is rather small since Santa Rosa's airport is a municipal airport and only gets Turboprop and private aircraft.

When I started at security I knew it was going to be interesting when the agent doing the screening asked if I had a laptop in my bag--I'm a writer, I always have it--I told I did. "Could you take it out so it could go through the x-ray machine?" I told him, "sure."
I took it out, placed it one of the grey bus-tubs and sent it through with my shoes, hat, phone, roll
away carry-on, keys and the other things I had in my pockets.

I went through the detector, it went off, I had to take off my belt. They sent me through the second time, nothing went off. I went to grab my stuff, and I was selected "At Random" to have my shoes swiped and put into the analyzer for the chemicals that are in explosives, it tested positive.

Now the fun began, I was told, "Your shoes tested positive for chemicals that are known to be used in explosives." The types of things that use chemicals associated with explosives are toothpaste, hand lotion, shaving cream, powder from fireworks and a number of other chemicals.

Then they told me, "We're going to pat you down, would you prefer to have this done in a private area?" What am I supposed to say to this, "Yes, I would prefer you take me away from the public so you could screen me and violate my rights a little more." I wanted to say that, but since I wanted to get home to my wife and kids, I kept my mouth shut.

They went forward with their pat down, and I thought about make a smart ass remark about not going to dinner first with the guy who did the pat down, but I thought better of it.

I looked at the people going through security as I was going through my pat down, some of them had "The look of fear" in their eyes, which made me feel like shit.

I didn't think anything about the screening process at the airports, it was just another hassle at the airport, that changed in Santa Rosa this past weekend. I'd never felt humiliated in public before, this was the first time.

We see our privacy rights stripped from us, and now we know how heavy handed the government has been with the Snowden leaks.

I don't know why I was pulled out of line for the test, it didn't seem random to me. How random, do they "flip a coin", play "Eany, meany, miny, mo." What do they use as a measurement for their randomness.

I didn't like being treated that way, and I especially didn't like the looks I received from my fellow passengers while I was being held for my pat down.

I've never felt like my rights as a U.S. citizen had been violated before this instance. Now I believe every time we're pulled out of line, every time we don't say anything about what we now know the government is doing for the sake of "Security" is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Someone recently told me that if we stop one more 9/11 with these security checks and the things the NSA is doing they're fine with it. Really? You're okay with giving up the rights of 350,000,000+ people to save 3,000?

It sounds like a bad trade off to me, but what do I know? I'm just a white boy writer from Wyoming.

The only thing this had to do with Neil Gaiman is the signing. I wrote this, Neil is his own person and has his own opinions, I'm not sure of his stance on this, and thus this has nothing to do with him.

Edward Snowden, the Cold War Generation and the Post-Cold War Generation

When we see things like Edward Snowden, is it right to think that one generation thinks of as a bad thing another generation sees as a good thing?

One generation sees Snowden as a traitor, why?

Well, let's give some reasons.

Most of the generation that has this belief was raised during the cold war and were told, "Your government is here to protect you from the Russians and Communism."

The other generation has never had anything like that, sure there's terrorism, but that's something different than the big bad Russians.

Terrorism can't launch missiles at you when something doesn't go there way, at least not in The States, not yet. 

During the Cold War Americans were told their government was the good guy, that they were doing things to help them, not to harm them and they went along with it.

The Generation of the Cold War listens and obeys its government because, it's been told that so many times that it believes that whatever it does is for the good of the people, but what if that's not true anymore?

Two Generations

The CWG (Cold War Generation)

There are two generations in The States, The Cold War Generation and The Post-Cold War Generation, both of them love their country, but one of them loves it for different reasons than the other.

The CWG (Cold War Generation) loves it because it was told the Russians has missiles aimed at it and that any moment they would be obliterated in a flash of light, I've heard this statement from CWG's.

The PCWG (Post-Cold War Generation) has heard the stories from relatives about the Cuban Missile Crisis and living in fear of being annihilated at any moment, but they never lived through that, sure 9/11 made them think about it, but to compare 9/11 to the Cold War is off base.

9/11 was something that we couldn't plan for--unless you believe the conspiracy theorists--it was an event that changed the country, and it could have been for the good, but it wasn't, this where the PCWG comes in.

The PCWG

The Post-Cold War Generation knows about the Cold War through text books, movies and stories from their elders, and most likely they may share some of the beliefs of their elders.

Though they may share their beliefs, they are finding themselves troubled by recent revelations about the governments activities, namely the leaks from Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden.

The two things changed the beliefs of this group, they most likely have seen first hand what the government has done, either through the bailout of the banks, the handouts to Big Oil, Big Pharma and Agri-Business.

They've seen the country in dark nights--9/11--and wonderful mornings--DOMAStruck Down. They are more likely not to care about ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion.

They want their government to help them, not to control what they can and can't do.

For PCWG they've heard how great their government is, but all they've seen is wars, poor, loss of jobs, handouts to banks and a Legislative and Executive branch of government that care only for its own interests and not those of the people they represent. They've never seen this wonderful government their parents, grandparents or others have told them about.

They've never felt their government was helping, only hurting their citizens.

There are two Generations in America, which are you?

The Marching Bureaucracy

Marching as they're charging and letting the lives be changed.
Adjusted, falsified, rancid and resting.
Ignorance and indifference are the new thug life.
Who cares about the world, let the fucker burn.
The soiled and rotten run through the jungles of bureaucracy bringing their guns, money and false hopes of the poor with them.
What are the dreams, hopes and cares but another lie they say is within reach.
Ignore what you're told. Find your own truth. 

America and the Elephant

When I was growing up in the 80's I remember hearing that Russia was evil and that America was better than "Them".

Now it's 2013 and are we any better than them now?

There's the story of the elephant, who when he's young he's tied to a stake and as he grows older--and stronger--he doesn't break the stake because he learned as a young elephant that he couldn't break it and gave up trying.

America is the elephant tied to the stake.

We see things going on around the world, we've watched the fall of Libya and Egypt. The riots in Brazil and Turkey. The civil war in Syria.

But even when we're told that our government is doing things that go against the constitution and everything we're told our government is, we ignore them because we feel safe in our ignorance.

We don't want to rock the boat. We're afraid to do something about the PATRIOT Act, or stand up for poor people who are being screwed by the government on a daily basis.

Why are we afraid?

We're the Elephant tied to the stake.

We believe we'll never break the chain of what happens in our society because our government is too big, too strong and we'll never beat them.

We're too comfortable in our lives to let the anything disrupt it. We love our iPhones, our Xboxs, our junk that doesn't mean anything if we sacrifice who we are for the sake of owning things that don't do anything for us but collect dust after we're gone.

If we'd follow what other countries are doing we'd have a government that listened to us, but we're the Elephant tied to the stake.