State Sovereignty Shuffle (or... "Came and Took It")

Article: Texas vs. TSA - Round 1 goes to the Feds.

 ...Now, I imagine many of (the five or six of) you who read this won't see the conflict in the federal government putting its foot down on Texas outlawing the TSA's invasive pat-down procedures. By now, we are conditioned to accept that the Federal Way is the golden standard. A state that chooses to operate differently is painted as a collection of yokels or militia men who should be considered either incompetent to govern themselves or dangerous to our grand Nation's democracy.

But when Texas' House voted 138-0 to pass a bill banning TSA searches "without probable cause," the federal government's reaction was to exercise its authoritarian authority. U.S. Attorney John Murphy told Texas

...the feds would have to respond by shutting down Texas airports as it “could not ensure the safety of passengers and crew.”

...a blockade? Really?

History, help me out. Something in this whole threat of a transportation kibosh sounds familiar....

This is Not a Test

Among the unbelievable heap of events and developments piling up all at once, there are a few that I'd like to highlight. These are structures or programs whose impending intent is to gain control over large groups of people by using either fetishes, fear, or guilt to pry open the grip we still hold on our natural freedom.

* The first:
Google I/O 2011: Google wants to control your home - May. 11, 2011

 

"Connected devices like home media equipment, dishwashers, cars, and lights could soon be able to be controlled using the new platform....The chief obstacle to making that happen across all connected devices is finding a single, open standard to control everything you own," said Joe Britt, head of the Android@Home team.

Eric Holland, a vice president of LED manufacturer Lighting Science, added: "The advantage of Android@Home is that any developer can write an application to control the lights. They don't need to learn any proprietary protocol... one app could control fixtures from all participating lighting companies... Robots powered by Android smartphones and tablets were wandering around the conference... 

"Soon, you may be using your phone to interact with all the devices in your home -- whether they beg you to or not." 

Oh, So That's Food Security?

Let me be clear: guns are just not interesting to me. Nothing about them is so sexy that it lures me away from a reasonable discussion about their merits and dangers.

In fact, back home in the great state of - well, you know where - I've had enough debate with gun-promoting, boot-bearing male counterparts to be labeled a "hippie" (well... that and all the organic farming ...and tree-hugging ...and membership among the Great Unwashed).


But that citizens are willingly turning in their guns is, frankly, shocking.

The Austin Police this week accepted around 400 guns from people in exchange for gift cards to grocery store, ranging from $10 to $200. It shocks me because, not only did people surrender their arms because they "weren't using them," they yielded them directly to the authorities.

Police trade groceries for 400 guns: kxan.com