We have already accepted the notion of being identified at whim from a distance, be it RFID, Iris scans, or facial recognition, and we have accepted the intrusiveness of automated surveillance via cameras all over our cities. This acceptance effectively eliminates our rights to privacy. Unless we completely reject such notions of exchanging liberty for security, we will have no valid argument against any invasion of privacy, including RFID.

In short, we lost our argument a long time ago when we remained silent about electronic surveillance as a general practice. "Precedence", as they would say, has already been set.

-Now what?

For those of you who may be concerned that someone might be looking at a way to install software on your system to "SPY" on you, I humbly submit the following. (granted they're only Wikipedia, but the information is relatively accurate).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore_(software)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

Please also remember that these technologies have been around for a while, and the versions presented here are the NON-classified methods, and only two of them!

Please believe me, there are MANY more methods of data interception that are far more effective and common.

Anonymity and privacy have been dead for a long time. You just never knew it.

Don't worry.
Once we can no longer afford to make electricity, the Internet will be down any way.

(admins.... the link to the article seems broken....)

I was shocked when I heard the news. I must admit though, I don't' see any way she could win. If she had continued to occupy the office, she'd be accused of using the Alaskan taxpayer's money to defend herself. Stepping down, she's accused of being a quitter, or of having some other motive.

As Gov Huckabee said in the Chris Wallace interview, the opposition, if it can't argue against policy and politics, will simply tie one up in court. This costs the taxpayers money and also the individual. The entire Democrat machine was brought to bear against Palin. That cost Alaska over 2million and the Palin family over 1/2 million. Remember Samuel "Joe" Wurzelbacher? All he did was ask a question and SOMEBODY tried to ruin his life!

Power abuse for the purposes of retaining or acquiring power is a form of corruption that presents as much of a threat to the American way of life as selling secrets to the enemy. It is on par with treason. The Republican party could have done SOMETHING to help, but since she scares them as much as she does the Democrats, they elected to do nothing. If the DNC is guilty of a crime on par with treason, the RNC is guilty of complicity.

People engaging in this kind of power abuse should be tried for SOMETHING! At the very least they have willfully filed false statements/complaints, filed frivolous suits, and intentionally interfered with the normal operations of an official government agency. This is a form of political terrorism, nothing less If convicted, they should face the maximum penalty.

BUT.... I don't hear anyone hollering about "Hate Speech" like they did when people were complaining about Obama's policies. (and we actually complained about his POLICIES). There were REAL concerns about Obama and his loyalties. The complaints against Palin were BASELESS, and those who filed those complaints knew it!

The very fact that we now live in a country where it is acceptable to conduct politics this way indicates that we have already lost the fight. The corruption has become so complete that this form of treachery has become an acceptable norm of operations and is not recognized as the high-crime that it is, and carry the same penalty.

Investigate, don't investigate...... it's irrelevant.

I still say the global warming argument itself is a red herring. What we need is energy independence. We need WISE legislation to help stimulate genuine research to assist offsetting energy costs of the homeowner as well as industry and transportation. In the process of this kind of technological research a variety of alternative energy solutions would be improved and become affordable.

...BUT... that's not what's being dangled in front of us. No, we're being told to keep arguing about whether or not mankind is causing global warming.

IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!!!!!

If we did the REAL research and invested in ALL forms of energy technology and research, we'd quickly remove ourselves from that equation! The by-product of energy technology is unavoidably the reduction of "carbon footprint".

"Global Warming" or "Climate Change" is just another way of legitimizing control to the personal level. The EPA is simply part of the control circuit.

"...they are still mad at us"???

Well, here again, somebody needs to define "they".

As the article states, the regime has blamed a number of people for the protests. In fact, it first tried to claim that Neda Agha-Soltan was a "staged death" by the protesters, then it made the statement that it was actually a CIA sniper, next it blamed a BBC reporter.

The protesters saw through that B.S. In fact, they've been asking for help, including the U.S.

Somehow, I'm beginning to believe that the Iranian people might actually be growing up. It seems they're tired of the kind of regimes they've historically been answering to. Evidence of that is the simple fact that they don't buy into the government propaganda being spewed by Ahmadinejad and his government controlled propaganda machine.

Ahmadinejad's regime may be mad at us, but it looks like the people know better.

At least..... I can hope.

Hi admins elves and associated site ghods,

Believe me when I tell you that there are a bunch of us out here that really appreciate your efforts. We have a pretty good idea of what it takes to handle this beast.

I know in your above statement it says "The 912 Project is NOT a big operation." Well, that may be true in a financial-income sense, and it may be true in a personnel sense, but believe me, I know it's a HELL of a big operation in an administrative / maintenance sense and I'm rather certain a bandwidth sense as well.

When things go awry it can cause a LOT of stress for you (plural). Those of us who have been in the systems support end of things TRULY understand.

Sometimes, because of paranoia, the love of conspiracy theories, or (as in my case) just a twisted sense of humor, someone will make a comment that grates you the wrong way. It shouldn't happen, but, you know people...

Just remember that you are giving people a power they wouldn't have otherwise. Don't hesitate to remind folks of that from time to time (just my personal opinion, and we all have those...).

If I may offer a suggestion that I think might actually help. This little note page is a VERY nice idea! I'd like to suggest you keep something like this as a "Status page", if you will. That may help to assuage the conspiracy stuff, the complaints, and even let we well-intentioned pains-in-the-@$$ know that you're already aware of the problem.

Just a thought....

Bottom line; you're all doing a GREAT job!

Hang in there.
God Bless.
and remember "Illigitimus non-carborundum!"

(ok, I know it's only dog-latin, but you get the gist...)

Thanks again folks.
-Al

Well.....

Didn't see THAT one coming....!

What is it with politicians, anyway?

I've wrapped my TV in plastic.
I hope it doesn't leak.

"The question is, would the police start killing its own citizens? "

I'm afraid that question has been answered rather definitively.

The regime will quite literally stop at nothing to maintain power.