VELIKI BRAT vas gleda!

[Ghoul]

VELIKI BRAT vas gleda!

amerika odlučno stupa u pravcu staljinizma i diktature koju će dobrovoljno i srećno podržavati i omogućavati 'običan svet' koji je adekvatnim treningom već pripremljen na opravdanja za najgrublja rušenja ljudskih prava i privatnosti.
zemlja srećnih žbirova, overzealous za tužibabisanja i njuškanja svakojake vrste.

2 primera:

The City of Bozeman, Montana, wants to know about
  people who apply for jobs with the city. Included on the application is
  this: "Please list any and all, current personal or business websites,
  web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs
  or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo,
  YouTube.com, MySpace, etc." That's not all: it also requires the
  applicant's user names and password information for all those sites.
  "We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people
  of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the
  lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here," said city
  attorney Greg Sullivan, defending the intrusive questions. "So we do
  those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have
  the highest moral character and are a good fit for the City."

Max Yarmolinsky, 25, a physics teacher at South Shore
  Public Charter School in Norwell, Mass., doodled on a sheet of paper to
  pass the time while he was showing his students a video. One of the
  students stole the paper and gave it to his parents, who in turn gave
  it to school administrators, who in turn called police. The content of
  the paper was not disclosed, but it was described by the school and
  police as "a violent doodle." School officials and police both declared
  there was nothing threatening about the doodle, and no danger to
  students or staff. Still, Yarmolinsky was summoned to principal James
  Connolly's office, fired, escorted off school grounds by police, and
  warned he would be arrested for trespassing if he returns. He also
  faces misdemeanor charges of disturbing a school assembly and
  disorderly conduct.

[slavkod]

A u Salemu ne može da se kupi metla ni za lek!
Potreba svršenih državnih sistema za apsolutnom kontrolom građana je idel koji nisu izmislili ni Staljin ni Hitler.To je težnja po kojoj je idealno uređenja država ona koja ima po jednog policajca na svakog gradjana,a onda tek dolaze oni koji kontrolišu policajce.
Sa velikom javnom brigom o ljudskim pravima ide paralelno i proces ograničavanja prava privatnosti.Logično je da dete iz ovog primera sutra prijavi svoje roditelje za zlomisao.
Evo jednog primera iz prilično dalekog perioda ,a iz Švedske ,koja je izgradila imidž izuzetno slobodne i tolerntno uređene zemlje.Sedamdesetih i osamdesetih godina su postojali organizovani odlasci autobusa iz Švedske u Poljsku sa ciljem izvlačenja jadih Poljaka ispod gvozdene zavese.To se postizalo sklapanjem brakova.Samo malo kasnije (primer je iz 85.)Policija je mogla da bez ikakve najave i poziva privede ljude iz mešovitog braka na saslušanje,drži ih u odvojenim prostorijama i ispituje o najintimnijim temama iz njihovog života.(pitanja su kakav donji veš u tom trenutku nosi vaš supružnik,da li ste noćas imali sexulne odnose i kako i sl.)
Uspostavljanje super državnih oblika,po mogućtstvu globalnog karaktera jeste i uspostavljanje apsolutne kontrole(koliko se može)nad građanima,a sve zbog njihovog boljitka i sreće.

[Ghoul]

OBAMA RAZMATRA APŠENJE NA NEODREĐENO VREME: KRIV SI DOK NE DOKAŽEŠ SUPROTNO!

AP sources: Obama mulls indefinite prison stays



WASHINGTON – The White House is considering whether to issue an executive order to indefinitely imprison a small number of Guantanamo Bay detainees, concerned that Congress might otherwise stymie its plans to quickly close the naval prison in Cuba.

Under the proposal, detainees considered too dangerous to prosecute or release would be kept in confinement in the U.S. or possibly overseas, two administration officials said Friday. Otherwise, the White House could get bogged down for months seeking agreement with Congress on a new legal detention system.

No final decisions have been made about the order, which would be the fourth major mandate by President Barack Obama to deal with how the United States treats and prosecutes terror suspects and foreign fighters.

One of the officials said the order, if issued, would not take effect until after the Oct. 1 start of the 2010 fiscal year. Already, Congress has blocked the administration from spending any money this year to imprison the detainees in the United States — which in turn could slow or even halt Obama's pledge to close the prison by Jan. 21.

The administration also is considering asking Congress to pass new laws that would allow the indefinite detentions, the official said.

Both the officials spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the still-tentative issue publicly. The possibility of an executive order was first reported by the investigative group ProPublica and The Washington Post.

Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union Washington office, says the organization strongly opposes any plans for indefinite detention of prisoners.

"We're saying it shouldn't be done at all," he said Friday.

Without legislative backing, an executive order is the only route Obama has to get the needed authority.

In a statement Friday night, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell cast doubt that Congress would approve funding for transferring or imprisoning detainees in the U.S. without detailed plans on how it would work.

Lawmakers this month blocked $80 million the Obama administration had requested for transferring the detainees. Without the money, Obama's order can't be carried out.

"Bipartisan majorities of Congress and the American people oppose closing Guantanamo without a plan, and several important questions remain unanswered," McConnell said. He said Obama demanded the transfers "before the administration even has a place to put the detainees who are housed there, any plan for military commissions, or any articulated plan for indefinite detention."

McConnell added: "The defense budget request for fiscal year 2010 includes a similar funding request, so the Senate will consider this matter again in the near future."

Obama's order also would only apply to current detainees at Guantanamo — and not ones caught and held in future counterinsurgent battles.

There are 229 detainees currently being held at Guantanamo. So far, 11 are expected to be tried in military tribunals, and at least one — Ahmed Ghailani, a Tanzanian accused in two American embassy bombings a decade ago — has been transferred to United States for prosecution by a civilian federal court in Manhattan.

Still others, including four Chinese Muslims known as Uighurs who were transferred to Bermuda earlier this month, have been sent to foreign nations. The Obama administration is trying to relocate as many as 100 Yemeni detainees to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation.

Obama said last month he was looking at continued imprisonment for a small number of Guantanamo detainees whom he described as too dangerous to release. He called it "the toughest issue we will face."

It's not clear how many detainees could fall into that category. Defense and Justice Department officials have privately said at least some could be freed at trial because prosecutors would be reluctant to expose classified evidence against the detainees. Some of that evidence also might be thrown out because of how it was obtained — potentially by cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

A Pentagon task force is currently reviewing every case to see which are eligible for transfer or release, which could face trial in civilian U.S. courts, which are best suited to some version of a military commission and which are believed too dangerous to free.

Underscoring the difficulty of where to send the detainees before Guantanamo closes, a senior Defense official said some detainees who were picked up as enemy combatants cannot be charged with war crimes or terrorism even though they are believed to pose a threat. If no country volunteers to take them, traditional law of war authority allows the United States government to hold them until the end of hostilities, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Civil rights advocates and constitutional scholars accused Obama of parroting the detention policies of former Republican President George W. Bush.

"Prolonged imprisonment without trial is exactly the Guantanamo system that the president promised to shut down," Shayana Kadidal, a senior attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement Friday.

He added: "If the last eight years have taught us anything, it's that executive overreach, left to continue unchecked for many years, has a tendency to harden into precedent."

[slavkod]

 
Postojanje ekonomske krize će doprineti da se promene zakonodavstva dese uz burnu podršku narodnih masa željnih stabilnosti i sigurnosti!
Nije to išta novo.Setimo se kako su mnoge demokratske zemlje sa simpatijama gledale na stabilnost koju je Hitlerov režim doneo Nemačkoj.Pa i danas se mogu čuti mnogi (i sa naše političke scene )kako citiraju osnovne slogane nacističke Nemačke:RED,RAD I DISCIPLINA.Naravno da oni nisu svesničije je to,ali prija njihovoj političarskoj duši.

[Ghoul]

When Brad Young, 44, the softball coach at
  Walkersville (Maryland) High School, hosted an end-of-season party for
  his team, his house became an extension of Frederick County Public
  Schools property, the school district says. And since some of the
  parents brought beer to the party -- no students drank it, Young didn't
  have any, and no parents became inebriated -- the coach violated the
  district's "zero tolerance" drug-free, alcohol-free and tobacco-free
  policy for having alcohol on "school property" and has been fired.
  Young was a coach at the school for five years, and since he has
  another job as a financial planner, donated his school salary to his
  team -- buying them uniforms and jackets, equipment, and throwing
  parties. In that time he said he was never given a copy of the school
  policy that would have made his house school property because he was
  engaged in "official duties." Young says such a policy could apply just
  about anywhere. "The superintendent could be at a Chamber of Commerce
  meeting sitting next to someone with an alcoholic beverage," Young
  said. "She's there in her official capacity as school superintendent
  and she's representing the school system. Is she in violation of this
  policy and will she get fired?" A district spokeswoman refused to
  consider the scenario, saying only "I'm not going to interpret policy."
  (Frederick News-Post)

[raindelay]

USA zaostaje za maticom ( i to debelooo)

SIN BINS FOR WORST FAMILIES
...The Children's Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes.

They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals...

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115736/Sin-bins-for-worst-families

[mac]

Blago je ovo. Država treba da odmah preuzme brigu o toj deci, a i inače za rađanje kao i za podizanje dece treba da postoji dozvola. Za rađanje da se rade genetski testovi, za podizanje psihološki, plus kurs i praksa. Računam da je ovo sa CCTV kamerama uvedeno zato što je jeftinije, ali na duge staze posledica će biti da će morati da uvedu još više i više kamera, jer sada su deca problematičnih roditelja dobila bolju šansu da naslede sve te problematične osobine i da ih šire dalje...

[Ghoul]

novi dokazi o tome koliko dleko je veliki brat spreman da ide - i do kako apsurdnih vrhunaca:

ZERO TOLERANCE, CAREGIVER DIVISION: The first Sally Harpold knew there
  was a problem was when sheriff's deputies showed up at her home in
  Clinton, Ind., with a warrant for her arrest. But the evidence was
  clear: four months before, her husband had gotten a cold, and she went
  to the drugstore and got him some over-the-counter cold medicine. A few
  days later her daughter caught the cold, so Harpold stopped at another
  drugstore and got her some medicine too. Once the purchase paperwork
  was matched up, authorities realized she had committed the crime of
  buying 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine, an ingredient of crystal meth, but
  also a common decongestant for runny noses. "The law does not make this
  distinction," says Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina Alexander. "I'm
  simply enforcing the law as it was written." State law limits purchases
  to 3.0 grams in any 7-day period. Harpold was taken away in handcuffs,
  and her local newspaper ran her mug shot on the front page with the
  headline, "17 Arrested in Drug Sweep". She faces up to 60 days in jail
  and a $500 fine. "It's unfortunate," said Vigo County Sheriff Jon
  Marvel, whose deputies made the arrest. "But for the good of everyone,
  the law was put into effect." (Terre Haute Tribune-Star) ...Not
  "everyone" agrees, sheriff.

ZERO TOLERANCE, BABYSITTER DIVISION: Lisa Snyder lives near a school bus
  stop in Middleville, Mich. A couple of neighbors need to head for work
  before the bus arrives, so Snyder said she would be happy to keep an
  eye on their kids until the bus arrives. But when the Michigan
  Department of Human Services heard about it, they ordered her to stop:
  watching someone else's kids makes her home an "unlicensed daycare
  facility" in the state's eyes. To comply with its rules, she must apply
  for a license to watch the kids -- even though she doesn't charge
  anything. "It's crazy," Snyder said. "I'm just helping out a couple of
  friends." She asked State Rep. Brian Calley for help, but when he
  called DHS they told him to bug off. He has promised legislation to
  deal with the problem. (Kalamazoo Gazette) ...Hopefully he'll make it
  retroactive to help the hundreds of 16-year-olds who are already doing
  hard time.

[Milosh]

Ovo može da ide i na onaj topik Amerika na ivici propasti, šta reći...

[Tex Murphy]

Ne znam da li da se smijem ili da plačem.

[Ghoul]

Ne znam da li da se smijem ili da plačem.

a ti bacaj novčić.

[akhnaton]

Ili pitaj Milana Taroth-a!

[Ghoul]

jeste, vido sam da je našo uhlebljenje na nekoj banjalučkoj lokalnoj 'televiziji'.

[stakmen]

Amerika je bez obzira na toliko loseg,zemlja mogucnosti,ubedjen sam da bi tamo ghoul  i  Skrobonja,mogli ziveti od knjiga,piskarali po svom lap topu ,i  potpisivali  knjige fanovima,a  ovo kod nas da moras spavati pred mupom zbog licne,to nema ni u Turkmenistanu,pisati u ovoj zemlji a sa druge strane rmbaciti nesto sto  mrzish,unistava  knjizevnu volju u  pisca,nego---STA KAZETE ZA RADASHINA-covek je kralj provincijalne dekadencije,Blood ranch je za njega limunadica,veci je retos i frik

[Eriops]

Radasin je takav kakav je, meni su jos gore one zenske, i uopste mladji dio ekipe..
Ako je to neki presek, jezgro mladosti sa ovih prostora, kuku majko.. Najgora mi je ona Makedonka. Ne moze devojka bez seksa ni dana kaze, ako ga nema, mora da se zadovoljava sama, a onaj nesrecnik otputovao u Skoplje da je prosi   .
A ona ce ga otpiliti dok se kresne s nekim drugim..

[stakmen]

to je bre kurva banda u tom velikom bratu,uradice sve za publicietet...TAJ VELIKI BRAT je  dno dna,propast i dekadencija,pazi  vamo dodje prosecna porodica da ruca,mama,tata  i dechica,upale tv a tamo neka strtiptizeta iz Kraljeva pokazuje  sisajbere,iz prve sezone 1 lik je zaklao kevu,iz druge su se kola sa ucesnicima slupala i poginuli svi u kolima,a sta ce biti sa ovima,ta kuca je garant ukleta...Cursed house  of serbian big brother

[Ghoul]

e bre, jel ste vi pratili malo ovaj topik'
ovo bre nema veze sa tv emisijom 'v.b.' sasvim je druga tema!

[stakmen]

ma pratili nego malo promenili tok diskusije

[akhnaton]

Tek da se ne zaboravi offtopic.

[Ghoul]

ZERO TOLERANCE IN THE REAL WORLD -- BRITISH DIVISION:
Paul Clarke, 27, a
  former soldier, was on the balcony of his home in Merstham, Surrey,
  England, when he noticed a bag in his garden that didn't belong to him.
  "I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two
  cartridges," he said, so he took his find to the police to turn it in
  -- "I thought it was my duty to hand it in and get it off the streets,"
  he said. As soon as he handed the gun to authorities he was arrested
  for "possessing a firearm." Worse, the jury for the Guildford Crown
  Court found Clarke guilty, and by law he must serve a minimum of five
  years in prison. Prosecutor Brian Stalk said Clarke's "alleged" honesty
  was irrelevant, and Judge Christopher Critchlow agreed, saying "The
  intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant." (Surrey
  Mirror) ...And now we know British jurisprudence is, too.

NEVEROVATNO!!!

[Tex Murphy]

Čovječe, čitajući ove raznorazne presude po "civilizovanim" zemljama, čovjek nekad pomisli da mi nismo ni toliko nenormalni ko što se misli...

[Meho Krljic]

To jedino ako smo ludi da poverujemo da se rečeno oružje stvarno  tek tako zateklo u Polovom dvorištu. Britanski sud očigledno nije toliko lud!!!

[scallop]

Aman, bre, Meho! Ćovek doneo kratež u policiju, nije ga odneo. Jel' treba da shvatim da ovi ovdašnji drže oružje po kućama da ne bi zaglavili zatvor?

[Son of Man]

Joj sto ja ne nadjem kratez sa malo municije, odma bi ga predo. 

[raindelay]

Man Arrested For Being Naked In Own Kitchen
Eric Williamson, 29, from Virginia, insists he has done nothing wrong and any exposure of his private parts was purely accidental.
Williamson was making coffee in the buff at 5.30am when a woman and her seven-year-old son walked past his kitchen window in Springfield.
The woman then called the police.
Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings said the woman claimed Williamson then moved and exposed himself again through a large front window.
In his defence, Williamson said: "I'm by myself. So I come down here - the roommates are gone, and it's my house.
"I never had a conversation with anyone, never saw anyone. Didn't cross my mind, came and got coffee. I mean if I stood and seemed comfortable in my kitchen possibly it's natural. It's my kitchen."
Williamson, who is the father of a five-year-old girl, continued: "I am a loving dad. Any of my friends... and anyone knows that.
"And there is not a chance on this planet that I would ever, ever do anything like that to a kid."
Trial lawyer Dickson Young, who is not connected with the case, explained that "in order for it to be a crime, they have to prove - the state and police - have to prove that he knew those people were there when he was standing there.
"The statute requires an intentional display of your private parts. So if you are occasionally displaying them, accidentally displaying them, inadvertently displaying them it's not a crime."
Ms Jennings said the police would not pursue a case based on inadvertent exposure. The charge is a misdemeanour punishable by up to a year in jail.
__________________

[angel011]

Ako će da se kreće golišav, sve se dešava u prizemlju i moguće ga je videti sa ulice, nije mu palo na pamet da navuče zavese ili spusti roletne?

Mislim, optužba je blesava, ali zar njemu nije bilo neprijatno da šeta go a moguće ga je videti sa ulice?

[Ghoul]

China to block 'vulgar' text messages

Censorship is being extended to mobile phones

BEIJING -- Censorship in China is being extended to mobile phone text messages, as state-owned mobile telcos say they will block any SMS messages that do not meet the strict requirements of the country's net nannies.

China's three major telecom operators, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, will block text messages that contain "vulgar or indecent" text messages. China has 750 million cellphone subscribers.

More surveillance of text messages is part of a broader campaign aimed at restricting access to the Internet. China has 384 million netizens and is the world's largest Internet market by number of users. The news, carried in state media, of tighter control of cellphones is significant because most of China's new legions of web users use mobile phones to access the Internet.

Facebook, YouTube and other popular websites are banned in China because of their potentially seditious content, and the government has made it illegal to set up personal websites without registering domain names with a state agency first.

News that China is tightening its grip on electronic content further comes weeks after Google, the world's most popular search engine, said it was thinking about quitting China after suffering a sophisticated cyber-attack on its network, focusing on rights activists. Google also said it was no longer willing to filter content on its Chinese-language google.cn.

China Mobile, China's biggest cellphone operator and the world's biggest by market value, says that text messages would automatically be scanned for "key words" provided by the police to see if they contained "unhealthy" content. Implementing these new rules could be interesting. China Mobile subscribers sent more than 600 billion texts in 2008.

The text message content will be screened to see if it contains any of the 13 proscribed terms listed by nine government departments, including the description of sexual acts or human sexual organs, or any type of sexual innuendo.

China Unicom says text messages would only be blocked on cellphones if the number of indecent messages reached a certain amount or if other users submitted complaints.

Mobile phone users are worried that their privacy may be violated by the new rules. The Chinese constitution guarantees freedom of correspondence, and only in cases of criminal investigations can the public security bureau censor correspondence between people. However, given the levels of state surveillance that are allowed in China, there is unlikely to be a big fuss.

Since an anti-smut campaign was introduced last year, the government boasts that is has blocked access to banned websites more than 87 million times and shut down more than 15,000 pornographic websites. Rights activists complain that the anti-pornography tools are also being used to monitor dissenting voices in China.

[Ghoul]

ovo dole može se posmatrati kao vic.
kao, da li su ovi ljudi NORMALNI?!

ali humor je, zapravo, jeziv:

ERASABLE MISTAKE: Alexa Gonzalez, 12, was doodling on her desk with an
  erasable marker at Junior High School 190 in Queens, N.Y. School
  officials called in police, who arrested her and took her to the
  precinct house in handcuffs, detaining her for several hours. "I made
  two little doodles," she said later. "It could be easily erased. I
  started crying, like, a lot." Once reporters got on the story, school
  officials backpedaled. "Based on what we've seen so far, this shouldn't
  have happened," said City Education Department spokesman David Cantor.
  "Even when we're asked to make an arrest, common sense should prevail,"
  agreed police spokesman Paul Browne. Still, the girl was suspended from
  school for several days, and she was sentenced to eight hours of
  community service. (New York Daily News)


THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE: Patrick Timoney, 9, was playing with Legos at
  lunch time at Public School 52 on Staten Island, N.Y. He particularly
  liked the policeman figure, since his father is a retired cop. But the
  boy was hauled into the principal's office for possession of a gun --
  the tiny plastic one held by the Lego policeman. "They made me sign a
  statement," the tear-stained fourth-grader said. "She told me to write
  that I had a gun," he said. "She said, 'A gun is a gun'." The boy's
  mother had something to say about that. "This principal is a bully and
  a coward, and needs to be held accountable," said Laura Timoney, 44.
  "Why didn't anyone step up with an ounce of common sense and put an end
  to the harassment of my child?" (New York Daily News)

[Tex Murphy]

Hm, pitam se da li je čitava Amerika bolest od zemlje ili se to odnosi samo na N.Y.

[angel011]

Sa ovakvim idiotima ja bih dobar deo osnovne provela na robiji zbog žvrljkanja po klupi...

[slavko]

A u isto vreme su baš njihove škole primenjene psihologije dokazivale kako je za dčiji razvoj vrlo bitno da,između ostalog,žvrljaju po zidu.Ali to sve mora da bude strogo kontrolisano.Nemci imaju vrlo precizan izraz -ordentlich.

[scallop]

Sa ovakvim idiotima ja bih dobar deo osnovne provela na robiji zbog žvrljkanja po klupi...

Eto, šta je tebi falilo!

[Lord Kufer]

Očigledno je da im ispiraju mozak (to s pištoljima-igračkama je uzelo maha).
U pitanju je velika akcija, svetskih razmera.
I tejzovanje, bez razlike, dece i starica...
Od prebacivanja težišta sa štetnosti cigareta na pušače, jasno je čemu se teži.
U Kini je, za vreme "kulturne revolucije", upravo to rađeno. A ovo sada je samo dokaz da postoje i oni koji od istorije umeju ponešto da "nauče".
Taj istorijski provereni metod se zove "denuncijacija".

[Ghoul]

1984 in 2010
   

The Thought Police

Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School District thought they were at the cutting edge when they provided every high school student a laptop computer for "an authentic mobile 21st Century learning environment." That may have seemed like a good idea until student Blake Robbins was called in by Assistant Principal Lindy Matsko at Harriton High School. The boy was reprimanded for "improper behavior in his home," and Matsko showed the proof: a photo taken of him in his home through a camera, which was included in the 2,300 computers. She told Robbins she can activate the camera at will. "Many of the images captured and intercepted may consist of images of minors and their parents ... in various stages of dress or undress," alleges the resulting federal lawsuit against the school. The FBI is assisting local authorities in investigating possible criminal charges. Robbins, 15, says the school accused him of taking drugs, but he was actually eating candy. (Philadelphia Daily News) ...Huh: things are just 26 years behind schedule.

Here's something scary: my source for this week's story, the Philadelphia Daily News, ran a survey of site visitors asking whether schools should be allowed to spy on students and their families, as was done in the above story. "Is there any scenario where a school district is justified to monitor students at home?" It's not a "scientific" (statistically valid) survey since the respondents are self-selected, but look at the results as of this posting:



Yes, there's hope in the massive "no", but don't let that blind you to the rest of the data. Of just over 7,000 people, 181 of them (2.6 percent) think that's just fine "if the webcam captures illegal activity." And 99 more (1.4 percent) think it's OK "if the webcam captures a student suffering physical abuse." And 127 more (1.8 percent) are "not sure"! Consider that most people who go to read that article are there because they're outraged over the school district's actions; I think it's likely that if the respondents actually represented a statistically valid cross section of Americans, the Yes and Not Sure answers would be significantly higher -- an Orwellian Big Brother scenario is acceptable to them! Or, at the very least, they're "not sure" if that would be bad. The only correct answer in a free society is of course "No, there is no scenario where this would be okay." Yet people brainwashed by ZT and the lack of common sense are starting to think that self-appointed thought police officers should be peering into people's homes just in case there maybe, perhaps, is something illegal going on there. The end justifies the means.

And this is in the "land of the free" and the "home of the brave", where our forebears (successfully, or so they thought) fought to the death for individual rights, including the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty (not to mention the right "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches"). But now we're moving toward being fine with government agents secretly looking in "if the webcam captures illegal activity" or "if the webcam captures a student suffering physical abuse"?! Incredible!

Yet isn't that exactly the next step in the ZT mentality? "No drugs" means "no life-saving medications" means "no help for teen menstrual cramps" means "no candy" means "nothing anything like drugs" at off-campus school functions (because it's a school function, after all!) means "no candy at home" when you're sitting at the school-provided computer -- or you get hauled into the vice principal's office and accused of "improper behavior" at home because some idiot can't see the box of Mike and Ike you're eating from (a well-known gateway to Hot Tamales), so it's probably drugs, and LOOK! We have the photographic evidence right here, and we're adding it to your personal disciplinary file!

But that's what we can expect to get when we don't say NO to zero tolerance, whether it's an official policy or "just" the mindset of school officials.

Kids grow up. We must demand that they're taught common sense, and that something that "looks wrong" isn't necessarily actually wrong, and that there are degrees of propriety and mitigating circumstances (a toy gun is not a gun is not a gun is not a gun), and therefore, there are appropriate levels of response depending on the situation and the facts at hand. Because those kids are going to grow up and become the next generation of teachers, school administrators, doctors, cops, construction workers, mechanics, lawyers, engineers, paramedics, judges and more, and they'll need common sense to do their jobs right. We must demand common sense!

If we don't, there will continue to be a "natural" progression toward the worst George Orwell can imagine, and if you didn't read Nineteen Eighty-Four, let me tell you his imagination was pretty horrific.


Update: Example Photo Released
Added 19 April 2010

I've been following this story in the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and it's been pretty ...interesting.

First, there were two school employees who were allowed access to the cameras: Michael Perbix, a network technician, and Carol Cafiero, the information systems coordinator. Both are 12-year school employees, and both have been put on paid leave. (The assistant principal who confronted the boy is apparently still working.)

"A phone call had to come from the high school to turn [the web cameras] on," said attorney Charles Mandracchia, who represents Cafiero. "And if it was turned on, it was turned on with the understanding that the computer was either lost or stolen." He points out that the system has been used to recover stolen computers, so obviously the police know about the system. The software being used also takes a screen shot of what the student is doing on the computer, and records the computer's IP (Internet) address, which can help show where the computer is.

The school district admits it never told parents about their ability to use the camera to spy inside their homes whenever they pleased.

In at least one case, the cameras showed the "stolen" computer was in a classroom; the resulting photos showed the teacher (gasp!) was teaching the kids like she was supposed to!

The school says it activated the camera on Blake Robbins' computer (he's the kid in the original story) because his family didn't pay the $55 insurance fee for the computer. So is that a case of it being "lost" or "stolen"?

Cafiero was subpoenaed in the lawsuit, and worked to get the subpoena quashed. She refused to give a deposition as to the scope of the spying. Her attorney says calling her for a deposition is "premature" and "unnecessary," and says the plaintiff's attorney would "ambush her" unfairly. "We didn't say we wouldn't produce her," Charles Mandracchia said. "We're just saying we're not going to produce her now."

Mike Perbix, the network technician, did agree to a deposition, as has Lindy Matsko, assistant vice principal who confronted the boy with the photo.

When she did appear for a deposition, Cafiero -- who has not been accused of any personal criminal wrongdoing -- invoked her Constitutional right to not incriminate herself. "To each and every question I would ask her, other than her name, she asserted the Fifth," said attorney Mark Haltzman, who represents the boy in his lawsuit.

Haltzman released an example of the more than 400 photos that he has been able to obtain that were taken of Blake Robbins -- what the school district employees was looking at:



That's Robbins asleep in his bed. Yep: the school was watching kids in their bedrooms. It's not the only such photo, Haltzman says, and the photos he has received "includ[es] pictures of Blake partially undressed." And Robbins isn't the only subject, either: there are "thousands of webcam pictures and screen shots have been taken of numerous other students in their homes," he said. (Source)

Haltzman also obtained an e-mail where a staffer told Cafiero that watching the kids was "a little [Lower Merion School District] soap opera." Cafiero allegedly responded, "I know, I love it."

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who represents Pennsylvania, isn't waiting for the lawsuit's results. He has already introduced legislation to make such unauthorized monitoring against federal law, and has held a hearing on the issue.

"Many of us expect to be subject to certain kinds of video surveillance when we leave our homes and go out each day," Specter said, "at the ATM, at traffic lights, or in stores, for example. What we do not expect is to be under visual surveillance in our homes, in our bedrooms and, most especially, we do not expect it for our children in our homes."

Frankly, I disagree: given such power, I do expect it to be abused, so indeed such a law is needed.