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Today I’m writing to ask you to protect the civil liberties of US citizens. In the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks various branches of the US government have taken steps to increase the security of our nation. The problem we are experiencing today is that good intentions do not always equal freedoms being protected

It is a noble undertaking that the TSA takes on; the responsibility of protecting airplane passengers is huge. I fear that the intense focus on security has created an environment where the very public method of security is quashing those very constitutional rights they are seeking to protect.

To say that I would be angry to see my wife handled in that fashion would be the understatement of the year. This type of physical contact would clearly be seen as molestation in all other circumstances. To me it doesn’t make a difference that TSOs only pat down members of the same sex. There are only two persons who should have that kind of contact with me: my wife and my doctor.

Not that I need to quote the Fourth Amendment for you, but it reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

When did choosing to fly become “probable cause?” I fail to see how the choice of air travel warrants the suspension of the Fourth Amendment.

I urge you to seek out a better way forward. Security of the nation’s airways is an important task, but security at the cost of civil liberty is contrary to what this nation stands for. I cannot sit quietly when we’re told that to protect our freedom we must give up our freedom.

He defines power as the ability to coerce, to use force, even if you don’t use coercion. He uses the example of nuclear weapons, or even a traffic cop. Even though we haven’t nuclear bombs since WWII, they serve as a coercive deterrent. Even though he hasn’t pulled his weapon, I know the cop has some beyond the sidearm on his belt.

With power, you obey me because you have to. With authority, you obey me because you want to. Authority is gained by loving sacrifice. Tony goes on to share a story about Mother Theresa, as an example of one with authority.

All of this preface leads up to this quote from Tuesday evening. He leads into this by talking about the three temptations that Jesus faced.

Jesus rejected economic power [turning stones into bread], religious power [throwing himself off the temple], and certainly political power [lands promised by Satan].  That’s very important right now, because we’re facing an election. And Christians are easily diluted into thinking they can create the Kingdom of God through a political process. “If we could just elect our people to office. Godly people to office. Then we can make America a great country again.”

Knock it off. I mean, the reality is, if getting political power would be the way to change the world into what God wants it to be, Jesus would have come as a Caesar instead of a baby in a manger. You feel like thinking, saying to these people who say “If we just have enough power we could straighten out America. If we just have enough power we can get rid of all the evils!” Geez. Why didn’t Jesus think of that.

I’ve been trying to unpack and digest this for three months now, and I’m still working the big bites out, so getting to the smaller, more detailed pieces is still a ways off. I’m trying to re-learn what it means politically to be a Christian, and it’s not easy. Shocker, I know.

The last time the US was in this bad of a financial situaion is when Reaganomics came in and turned the economy around. Reduced government spending and reduced government regulation were probably the two major initiatives of Reaganomics.

Before the early 1980s, the last major economic situation was the Great Depression, and it was FDR’s New Deal. A program highlighted by government programs like Social Security, TVA and Timberline Lodge, among other things.

So in the 1920s the economy tanks, and government regulation and social programs are credited with reviving the US (and world) economy. In the 1970s the economy tanks again, and the government de-regulates previously set regulations, and the economy is revived.

Once again we find ourselves in a failing world economy, that has been corrupted by corporate greed in the financial markets. I think we’ve probably hit the turning point in the cycle, and are about to head into a period of increased government regulation and social programs.

If history shows us anything is that governments come and go. The Roman Empire was going to last forever, but then it didn’t. I don’t want to sound like the world governments are going to collapse, because I don’t expect that to happen in my lifetime. I do think we are going to see some major shifts on par with the New Deal, though.

Obama Facebook Ad

Originally uploaded by jschwanz

I’ve seen this pay-per-click advertisement on Facebook a handful of times over the last couple of days. All I have to say is his campaign understands new media very well.

First off, reference this article.

[Hein] Verbruggen [the IOC coordinator for the 2008 Olympics] reiterated the IOC’s position that athletes must respect the Olympic charter and that the games were “not a place for political gestures”.

That’s funny, you forgot to tell that to history.  Berlin in 1936 was all about promoting the Nazi view.  Moscow in 1980 was over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  LA in 1984 was mostly seen as a retaliation for 1980.  And definitely not outdone by 1968 in Mexico City — while done by individuals and not nations, still a very politically powerful move.

Anything international is political, especially something as competitive and “friendly” as sport.  National pride is on the line; we’re better than you.  ”Right” and “wrong” is one the line; our politics/policies are the way things should be.  Good v. Evil at the water polo venue in 45 minutes; stupid Commies are going down!

That brings us to today, and my reason for posting this.  The Olympic torch is making it’s 85,000 mile trek, and today was in London, where it received a very “exciting” welcome.  Some protester tried to take it, and another tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher!

My tension comes where the politics meet the field/mat/pool/court.

On one hand, the struggle in Tibet is very, very real.  The oft-reported human rights abuses in China are very real.  China’s (thankfully currently restrained) military might is very real.

On the other, these are (mostly) amateur athletes, competing at the highest levels, for their respective countries.  Most of them make enough money to survive, but not enough to live comfortably.  Especially when it comes to basketball, professional teammates shift gears and compete against each other.

And there’s the rub.  Once you pull on that uniform, once you are wearing something that says USA, Canada, Jamaica, Venezuela, Australia, China, etc. you are not just an athlete competing for yourself.  You are an athlete with thousands and millions of people behind you, and you represent them.

I just don’t know how to react.  The IOC is in fact not a political organization.  The Olympic Games, however, have a history of being politicized in both healthy and unhealthy ways.  This upcoming Olympic Games is being politicized, for what I perceive as healthy reasons.  I just am struggling to find internal peace with a “just and reasonable” way to express the political views.  I guess I just have to wait until history happens to see how well international leadership handles this politically non-political situation.

During WWII Japanese-Americans all over the country were forced from their homes and placed in internment camps. The short version of the article from The Oregonian is that there are some in Gresham, Oregon, that want to construct a monument or memorial of some kind to a former mayor, Dr. Herbert H. Hughes (1941-1956). The problem is that Dr. Hughes was a director of an organization who tried to keep the Japanese-Americans from being able to return to their homes and farms in Gresham after they were released from the internment camps. 60 years after this took place there is still a lot of hurt and anger from those who it effected. These Japanese-Americans suffered undue prejudice and hardship because of wide-spread hysteria and parinoia.

Turn the clocks forward 60 years. 6 major US ports are managed by a foreign company. This foreign company decides to sell it’s management operations to another foreign company. The security for these ports will not change. It is managed by the US Coast Guard and US Customs. The management impacts security 0%. What the buying company is suffering from is American parinoia, purely because it is an Arab company. We will allow a British company to do this job, but because you are from the “wrong” part of the world you can’t.

What frustrates me the most is that the ones who got the most upset about it are the congressmen and congresswomen who should be above this prejudice. But, because it is an election year they don’t want to appear soft on terror and homeland security. Instead they take action against the takeover, showing the world that we don’t like the Middle East, and don’t trust anything (or anyone) that comes from it. In order for the Middle East to become a free(r) Middle East we need to be making friends over there, not making enemies. What the politicians perceive as “protecting American assets” has just fanned the flame of anti-American sentiment throughout the Muslim world.

My hope is that, in 60 more years, we don’t look back on these two separate-but-related issues and see that we are still the same. Unfortunately, I fear that it is just too much wishful thinking and not enough reality.

For more articles on the backlash of this debacle read this, this, this, and this.

[tags]Dubai Ports International, politicians, Middle East[/tags]