Homeland Security - Really? Avian flu. Really.

Freedom has nothing to do with closing borders and hiding in boxes. Yet fear mongering about terrorists bringing in WMDs across insecure borders seems to be endemic in America at the moment.

And as usual this fear is being used to promote an over-response that is totally out of proportion compared to the under-response to the threat of avian flu.

A group called "grassfire.org" is backing legislation that would supposedly seal our southern borders tighter than a drum, and clearly they consider they are involved in a worthy political cause.

However, there is a much bigger picture to consider.

Despite the rhetoric that has been going on for decades, it seems very clear that the major parties do not actually want to secure the borders, for it suits them for this to be an ongoing issue which they can trot out when they wish to divert attention from other things they are doing or not doing. So it is always politically expedient for them to NEVER resolve such issues as border security, education, the tax system, health care and social security (which they have robbed).

Think about it. Governments have had hundreds of years to sort these things out, and they never have.

What does that tell you? That they never will. Because it suits them not to. Instead they use these issues as political speech fodder, as a means to get voters emotional, and as a way to garner votes - votes gathered with empty promises and spurious and ineffective legislation.

Alternatively, they use these issues to advance their own agendas and plans for future control of all of us. For but one example, the president's kite about offering illegals a three year amnesty as long as they accept a biometric i/d of some sort and then go home.

Biometric Chips

Next thing, we'll be putting biometric chips in every new-born child. It’s called creeping gradualism. Gradually tightening the noose. Gradually moving from one position to another. Gradually shifting from the promise that a social security number would always be private and sacrosanct to a position where you can do nothing at all without revealing it to all and sundry. So does the idea of a chip implant in every newborn sound so fantastic? Such chips are already being used by some willing military people on a 'trial' basis. They just swipe their thumb or hand through a PX checkout machine, and their wages are garnished right there and then. Wal-Mart would love it.

Actually, the FDA approved the use of implanted chips in 2004 (see link) so the thought of creeping gradualism is not off the mark at all.

But back to the borders and the subject of freedom.

We might be giving ours away every day, but let’s look at the borders from the perspective of those coming across them illegally.

Yes, there are a few drug runners (which shows you the 'war on drugs' is a bust) - and any fears of someone bringing in WMDs may - just may - be well founded although biological weapons are far more easily introduced by air travelers from already infected regions, or by existing cells supposedly already embedded in America.

And then of course, we have literally millions of cargo containers coming through our ports with not a nano-second’s inspection. Many of them have brought in many illegal aliens – to the point that we are told there are perhaps 11 million in the country (but how anyone knows for sure is anyone’s guess – which means that number is a guess in itself).

Apparently, for the most part, "illegals" are people who work here illegally and send money home (and the president doesn't care, because as he says, Americans don't want to do those jobs).

But consider this....how many Americans take a percentage of their wages and send that money to their parents and siblings? How many?

Would you agree that you know almost no-one who does that?

Can you imagine any American working at minimum wage or less - taking home say $250 a week - supporting themselves on that, AS WELL AS sending some to their extended family?

Not a chance.

And then there are those who are genuine refugees from despotic and ruined countries and economies in South America - people seeking just the very basics in life, such as freedom....unaware that much of their misery has been caused over decades by the impact of US corporate avarice which has ruptured their societies and made them destitute.

The world would actually be a far better place WITHOUT borders, and WITHOUT our current international gangs of crony politicians who lead us to war by lying about WMDs, lying about "threats", and lying about their desire to protect us...from what?
(Sorry. I should have said ‘misleading’ if I wanted to be politically obtuse).

As we hear daily reports of yet more US soldiers - many of them no more than teenagers - dying in Iraq to 'protect us at home' - dying because of the insanity unleashed by an invasion designed only to secure oil reserves for a privileged few - dying because of a game plan that gives Halliburton billions in cheated dollars - dying because America wants to spread "freedom' - can we honestly say these warmongers are sane and humane?

And never a word about the thousands of Iraqis killed in the invasion, and killed since by the very fact that Iraq has become a terrorist training ground – a mad land of suicide bombers dying in the name of God fighting Christian soldiers dying in the name of God.

Personal Freedom

Can we truthfully tell ourselves that our personal freedom has been made more secure as a result - when we now have a Homeland "Security" Department that actually gutted FEMA's ready-response capability and diverted resources into yet another crony/buddy bureaucracy?

And then there is the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act of 2001. Are we personally more secure under this carefully named misnamed PATRIOT Act – its acronym suggesting that true patriots will give up and give away their freedoms in order to ensure freedom?

How crazy is that?

The federal response after Katrina is but one clear example of the fact that government does NOT have the interests of its citizens uppermost on its agenda.

However, it certainly should NOT be held responsible for our personal preparedness for any natural or man-made calamity. As Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush and others have said – how many days’ warning do you need to stock up on the basics?

On the other hand, the very delay in the federal response ensured that by and large people were willing to accept a military presence in any city in the nation – a military presence which in former times would have been construed as martial law imposed by a president who had enacted a ploy to stay in office indefinitely.

Such may well be the case when we soon see the military placing our cities under quarantine with associated travel restrictions because of avian flu – a scenario openly spoken of by the president himself. Only a moron would wish to be the first to be infected with such a virus, especially when no vaccine exists.

An Appalling Concept

The current American mind-set that "Government" is "responsible" for so many things is downright appalling. Yet it has in many ways been encouraged and fostered by government itself, because government likes it like that. It means it has an electorate of dependent needy sycophantic fools who can be manipulated at will, sent to war as cannon fodder and yet line up behind their tribal leader (be he a Republican or a Democrat) and mindlessly get into unquestioning lockstep with the tribal dogma.

Contrast that with the independence of a single illegal alien leaving behind a desperate life - taking personal responsibility for his or her own future and destiny - looking toward the US as a better place than the one he or she has left - and having the courage and fortitude to face potential death to realize their dream...and you can bet that such a person has much more in the way of fearless self-determination than any soft-bellied overweight whining party-following bigoted "real American."

Now - the bigger picture.

American corporations have gutted the US economy with the help of their governments (here and abroad) by signing on to these so-called "free trade" agreements. They have taken their manufacturing enterprises off shore to sweat shops around the world and left Americans destitute in their own land. How so? Because when the price of goods falls, wages also stall or fall or disappear when US manufacturers go out of business - and the worker who is supposed to benefit from free trade, is actually worse off than before.

Perhaps it won't be long before the flow of refugees reverses itself?

Natural Disasters

And above all, as Nature itself takes its course with natural disasters, America will feel far more than she has already in the way of earthquakes and hurricanes and volcanic activity – be that the Yellowstone or the Long Valley caldera that finally blows.

That aside, the most immediate threat is a plague of unimaginable proportions. Avian flu is here.

As those who experienced the 1918 flu pandemic found to their cost, to live in a city is to live in a death trap. Millions and millions of people are in danger. But, because the government has belatedly acted to reassure us that it has a multi-billion dollar plan to inoculate us, we ignorantly assume this ensures our safety. It does not. It does nothing. It does no more than their promises to seal the borders.

So what is the alternative?

Very simple. Just be aware that government is power for power’s sake. That they use that power for their personal survival. They take our money and ensure their own safety ahead of ours (underground cities and bunkers are theirs – the submerged streets of New Orleans are ours). They create wars for their corporate friends. We and our children are destined to die in that cause. They condone torture and assassination (except of their diplomatic buddies) and send us to jail for raising our voices in our own houses. They lie about who knew what when. They condone breaches of Geneva conventions and flout US law by imprisoning suspects without trial or legal recourse in countries where torture is condoned. They imprison women for prostitution while the Oval Office sucks – and survives.

They have planned very well for their own survival. And why shouldn't they? They're only human. (Though some would question that, but that's another story...).

Be Fully Aware

The alternative then is to be fully aware of this hypocrisy, these double standards, these agendas in which we are but the pawns and play things – and to then allow that this is so, let them get on with it, and make sure that we personally have done and are doing everything we can to be prepared for any eventuality – without for one second relying on any idea that government is here to help us.

It is not.

Without our habit of giving our power away – a habit which makes us equal partners and equally responsible for the very things we complain about – without our collective mindset that government should take care of us, we just might all start waking up to the fact that it is actually we as individuals who should be fully responsible for our own lives.
If we live in the inner city, we should at least move to the suburbs. If we have seen hurricanes, earthquakes and looters at work, we should at least have food and water put by. We should be independent, knowing that government promotes dependency. It thrives when people are dependent. It lives to control and controls to live.

But true control is self control. Self determination. Self empowerment.

It is not the responsibility of government to make the world a better place. How can it, when its mindset leans toward the use of nuclear weapons – the ultimate weapons of mass destruction?

The truth is, it is our responsibility to make the world a better place – starting with ourselves.

Imagine these scenarios - a lone rider with a team of pack mules on a three week odyssey in the high country of Montana - a solo mother working as a prostitute to support her child – a soldier’s widow working in the local 7/11 to support her children (except on Sundays when she goes to church) - a young college graduate bravely facing his or her first job interview – a would-be politician glad-handing a crowd and kissing babies in pursuit of a dream - a black woman refusing to stand for a white man on a segregated bus – a human being (not an alien, a human being) trekking across a desert toward a promised land.

All these have the inalienable right to pursue their own unique version of life and liberty.

THAT is freedom.

THAT is independence.

THAT is what America is supposed to be about.

And when the pandemic passes, may we remember that.

© 2005 Michael Knight.

About the author: Michael Knight is Editor of EZTALK - the world's first talking newsletter, and CEO of www.cuddlysoftware.com.

PS: You might consider emailing this to everyone on your list and ask them to do the same. If the people of the 1918 pandemic could have done so, it may have saved many lives.