HUMBLR

As Big Brother inches further and further into our vaginas, a few courageous individuals have stepped forward to say "Wait a minute. Can they do that?" Last week the Supreme Court upheld Maryland's police officers in their intrusions into our bodies, in an attempt to keep us safe. It is now legal for police to collect an individual's DNA who has been arrested (not convicted) of any serious crime in the United States. What actually constitutes "serious" is not fully explained. The ambiguity is left purposefully vague. I don't think "serious" is a legal term. "You were seriously speeding." Out comes the swab. Proponents of this decision see it as nothing more than the 21st Century's "fingerprint".  A fingerprint does not contain the entire g nome of an individual's make up. Once the government has it, there's no going back. OPEN WIDE. Officer Krupki is coming in.

   In the face of this patriotically paranoid post-911 climate, a few individuals stand out. First we have Julian Asange. (Just writing his name in this blog has triggered a flurry of activity down at Langley.) His website Wikileaks was at the forefront in the sensitive government information dissemination business before he met Bradley Manning. After Army private Manning gave Wiki that video of the helicopter crew killing a bunch of people (including two Reuters press employees) in Iraq, the stakes were raised. Assange now sits in the Ecudoran embassy in London and Manning is on trial for his life here. These dweeby white boys got big cojones.
   And the hero of the week is  high school drop out, turned NSA security guard, turned CIA undercover, turned Booz-Allan-Hamilton contractor/ NSA systems analyst, turned whistle-blower- 29 year old Edward Snowden. From a Hong Kong hotel room Snowden told a Guardian newspaper reporter just what the U.S. government's capabilities are in listening to your phone conversations and reading your emais. "I can listen to you, a Federal Judge, or the President himself, if I get a personal email." he told the Guardian. Sounds outlandish. Sounds scary. Sounds fucking unconstitutional! This spy-kid is spilling the beans and the old guard is falling all over themselves with spin. I've never understood why they call it "intelligence".
   Wrong or right, whatever their motives, these nerds are risking their livelihoods and in Manning's case his actual life, to make the moves they have made.  Just how shadowy our government is, we may never know. Any light shined is welcome. In my opinion these cats are heroes. As 'duardo and I try to come up with a decent edit of fake turkey hunting and non-cow branding with three hot girls, and pitch it to the Hollywood boys, I'm humbled by the courage of these 3 men. And to all you NSA boys reading this- my papers are in order. The door is open. Maybe you can get this computer to work a little faster.