Whistleblower's

My mom used to keep a list of sayings that she hated and although i don't have a list that i have written down and actually look at like she did i do have some idiom's that really rub me the wrong way.

“The Real America” does that mean Yosemite, Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, Statue of Liberty, the Heartland, Golden Gate Bridge what...what is the real America and is there any such thing?

“Real Americans” must mean Native Americans...right... or does it mean God fearing conservative Christians who love the baby Jesus...it couldn't mean all of us could it?

“The Liberal Media” what the hell does that mean...if it really was the liberal media we wouldn't be in Afghanistan, Guantanamo would be closed, Bradley Manning would have his sentence reduced to time served, Snowden would be here in the US fighting his case in the open, and the nations infrastructure would be tended to.

“Are you a Patriot” it used to be someone who loves their country and supports it but wouldn't follow blindly along supporting whatever the government gets itself into. “Today its someone who blindly follows and lacks the ability to think for him or herself.” Urban Dictionary

Just had to get those off my chest.

i'm just wondering if anyone here is familiar with the first whistle blower law that was passed July 30,1778?

" It is the duty of all persons in the service of the
United States, as well as all other the inhabitants thereof, to give the earliest information to Congress or other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds or misdemeanors committed by an officers or persons in the service of these states, which may come to their knowledge."

Bradley Manning tried alerting his superiors but was told to shut up so he went to the press.

Chuck Grassley a Republican senator and Carl Levin a Democrat yesterday proposed a "National Whistle Blower Appreciation Day" on the same day the original was passed.

Kohn the executive director of the Whistleblower's Center had this to say about it.

“The Senate Resolution calls attention to the fact that our nation’s Founding Fathers strongly supported whistleblowing, even in time of war, and even when the whistleblower allegations threatened to embarrass high-ranking officials. The action of our Founding Fathers sets a benchmark for evaluating how our current leaders treat whistleblowers,” 

Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden have exposed and embarrassed the US government with the wrong doing they have revealed to the nations citizens and the world.

So how does the government deal with this embarrassment? Instead of jailing Manning the government should stop being afraid of the citizenry. The revelations were necessary to check government over reach. Government should learn and correct the mistakes that were made in the past. They should question why we haven't lived up to our principles? The embarrassment is over as far as Manning is concerned but it doesn't mean that the government can't learn from this. We can always improve.

For Manning i think he should get off with time served. He probably saved people's lives around the world with his revelations.

For Snowden the government in all branches are going to have to do some real soul searching. The population is not happy with the intrusive surveillance.

If they do incarcerate Manning for a lengthy term then President Obama should commute his sentence and that's just my opinion.

See ya next week.

Headlines

i read both sides of the political spectrum and it is interesting to look at the opinion pieces that grace web sites dedicated to one ideology or the other.

You really don't even need to read the contents of the pieces as the text grabbing head lines are so similar on both sides. Some of them are the same but many take opposite poles. On the liberal side workers rights and how they don't have them, climate change and the end of the world, surveillance(both sides are amazingly together on this) and womens rights and the lack thereof predominate, while on the conservative side a large number of the articles every day just focus on Obamacare hammering away at how awful it is, gun rights and how you need them, abortion and the killing fields, and big government. Its hammered in day after fracking day... no wonder conservatives hate liberals and visa versa. Both sides totally demonize the other and it is sickening and really boring.

i think the worst part is how ingrained the propaganda is on both sides. 

i'll use Alternet(Liberal) and Town Hall(Conservative) as an example of what i mean and label them with capital A's and T's to represent the different sides. i'm sure which ever side you are on you will agree with the headline.

A(L)...The United States is Awash in Public Stupidity, and Critical Thought is under Assault

T(C)....Too many Opinions not enough Knowledge

A(L)...Recession forever...10 reasons American workers are screwed.

T(C)...The pension you never owned.

A(L)...America is on a Path to turn America into Detroit and Republicans are Cool with that

T(C)...Conservatives should point and laugh as Detroit Dies

A(L)...When was the last time someone made a case of justifiable homicide for a white kid smoking pot

T(C)...Fire created and stoked by the Left

A(L)...Blacks who stand their ground are often imprisoned.

T(C)...Stand your ground critics personify European pacifism, not American Values

A(L)...Republicans are sabotaging Obamacare by keeping the public in the dark about Benefits

T(C)...Don't fall for Healthcare Hard Sell

A(L)...CEO pay went up 15% last year to $15 million, how much did yours go up?

T(C)...Wall Strreet Journal condemns OECD proposal for global tax.

A(L)...Shocking things Wall Street Financiers say off the record about their bloated, corrupt industry

T(C)...Revolting Bankers of Obama

A(L)...How the temp workers who keep huge corporations running are getting crushed

T(C)...What's the bigger threat to workers, Unscrupulous Employers or Greedy Politicians

A(L)...A Presidential speech Won't solve Climate Change...It's going to take Activism by the public.

T(C)...Why is Obama lying on climate change

A(L)...Obama uses major climate speech to cheer lead for Natural Gas Industry.

T(C)...Obama's climate action plan...emphasize what won't work, penalize what works.

A(L)...I was supposed to end up alone according to the peddlers of the dangers of hook up culture...they were wrong.

T(C)...The new brainwashing...women like hookups

All these articles can be found at the sites i mentioned...i'm not putting in links because it is bad enough just to read the crappy headlines and you can find them if you really want to. 

My question is when are we as a nation going to sit down and just talk about reality instead of alarmist crap? Are you sick of being manipulated?

See ya next week.

Fourth Amendment "effects"

Have you ever thought about the act of typing a sentence, texting or making a call on a cell phone?

Could typing a sentence, texting on a phone, or verbalizing an idea be considered an effect that we should have control of? Are those outcomes we created effects?

i've been thinking of the word effects as used in the Fourth Amendment. Dictionary searches for the meaning of the word “effect” bring up such things as the power to produce results or something that is produced by an agency or cause.

Typing these words has the “effect” of displaying them here for me to do with as i choose. i can delete the sentence i just wrote or i can revise it or i can leave it as is and post it. But the real question is do i really own it once i place it here on my blog or do i only have ownership while it is in my computer at home. What if i e-mailed it to one select person instead of putting it here?

My understanding is that the blog is mine...only i have access to it and only i post articles here. i understand that my posts are no longer private and can be read by anyone in the world but that is a choice i make. i choose to make it accessible, i choose to have it disseminated i choose to make it public.

But what about in my private life? What about all the things i type that only go to one person, that i have no intention of making public? What about those phone calls are they effects or are they no longer private?

We all know none of us can transmit anything without a physical apparatus that we either own or borrow. Our cell phones, computers, i-pads etc. are all items that we have either in our possession or that we pay or sign up to use. We think we own them even if temporarily.

But here is a question...do we own the effects we create on our on line accounts, on our home computers, or on our cell phones? Are they ours or do they belong to some one else? Are they fair game for the government to collect? Are those words i typed into the e-mail an effect that i own? Are the words i speak on my cell phone effects that i own? Is my Amazon account really mine, are my e-mail accounts mine and would they be considered effects every time i used them? Or is everything fair game for anyone wanting to access them. i don't really know....but i would like to know.

The idea of privacy in regards to the 4^th is one that has been debated in our courts many times over the course of our history. Research on my part(limited research) only turned up two rulings regarding privacy outside of work that has anything to do with electronic communication. They are narrow in scope but appear to conflict with each other.

On March 11, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled, in Rehberg v. Paulk, 598 F.3d 1268, that a person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in an e-mail once any copy of the communication is delivered to a third party.[91]
On December 14, 2010, in United States v. Warshak, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his emails and that the government violated Warshak's Fourth Amendment rights by compelling his internet service provider to turn over his emails without first obtaining a warrant based upon probable cause.[92]

i think most of us expect a certain level of privacy in our e-mail, texting and cell phone use but i wonder how everyone feels about those communications being saved by government agencies? How do you feel about them being read, stored or forwarded by any one other than those you thought they were intended for?

Question...Has privacy become a redundant word in our technologically focused world or should it be resurrected ? Do we want to have anything private any more? Has it gone so far that we accept the mass collection of data by our government as normal?And what does the word effects really mean in the 4th Amendment?

i kind of think of it this way...if you are OK with a physical person standing in your house 24/7 listening to your conversations, watching you, recording you and storing it you are OK with your government collecting all your electronic communications.

What exactly does privacy mean? And when are we in this country going to address it? i put the Fourth below in case you haven't read it recently.

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.[1]

See ya next week.

A short one

Chantal was a non event that we in the Virgin Islands are very thankful for. She brushed past our shores dusting us with the smallest of squalls from her outer rings and seas that stayed relatively moderate. Thank you for sparing us.

Today the birds are all back to their nosy chatter unlike yesterday when they had become quite silent. The power stayed on and the only real change to every day life was the what ifs. We went swimming this morning in water that was relatively clear...seeing turtles, rays, loads of fish and not one shark.

Now we wait for the next one.

 This and That

i was reading about a small internet company in Utah of all places that has refused to hand over access to their customers accounts without a warrant spelling out what the probable cause is. Instead of handing over bulk info on all his subscribers Pete Ashdown of XMission has been protecting his patrons by not responding to requests for information that wasn't accompanied by a specific warrant.

Ashdown was apparently influenced by his Danish mother in the same way i was influenced by my English mother. World War II and the Nazis created enough instability in both our mothers lives that they drilled it into us what to look for. His mother provided him with a foundation of knowledge about the excesses of authoritarian governments, enough so that he knew to fight back when government was over extending.

Unfortunately there are too few like him in this country, but it is nice to know that there are some out there that aren't cooperating with the surveillance state. Its unfortunate that our media isn't reporting this and i had to find it in the Guardian.

When rights are lost it is very difficult to retrieve them.

Polls say that most citizens across the country view Snowden as a whistleblower not a traitor...and there is still no evidence that he has given any sensitive information to China or Russia. In fact he told Greenwald yesterday that neither country has had access to his computers. i'm in the whistleblower camp where do you stand?

See ya next week.

St. Croix's Mango Melee

Yum, yum...Mangoes are my favorite fruit but i'm allergic to them. i discovered this when i first moved to St. Croix and was standing under a mango tree helping to harvest. Within a few hours of all that collecting and eating i was a horrible mess. Unbeknownst to me the poison ivy like symptoms were caused by the mangoes and their sap. i discovered that unfortunately i was one of those people that couldn't indulge to excess during season.

Never one to let a little allergy control my life i subsequently discovered that if i didn't touch them and just popped chunks into my mouth the suffering was limited to superficial scratching and small bumps in my mouth. This i can handle for about a week every year during mango season.....and this is why Mango Melee is such a great event to go to for i can taste loads of mangoes at the tasting table and only suffer a little. Hope you enjoy the pics.

The display tables had so many mangoes of different varieties it was like going to the states after a long absence and having to walk out of the stores because you were too overwhelmed by all the choices. i couldn't quite file all the many types into my brain and figured i'd look at all the pics more closely at a later time. It really does boggle the mind....all that variety, size, color and taste and all so delicious.

 Outside the hall the vendors were doing a brisk business.

And the food smells were heavenly.

One stand had other fruit besides mangoes.

and another stand had mangoes, coconut, and breadfruit.

Outside its always nice to walk around the Botanical grounds and check out what is growing.

 Limin

and waiting to be rung.

Chantal is on the way and i thought we may not have power for a while so i'm putting this on early. My phone already has a hum so bad you can't hear anything...if we get more rain it will surely be toast.
See ya soon.

Emancipation Day in the Virgin Islands

Today is Emancipation Day in the Virgin Islands, which is a holiday for some and a regular work day for others who don't recognize the historical significance of Peter Von Scholtens actions on July 3, 1848.

Leading up to the actual proclamation there were approximately 26,000 slaves just on the island of St. Croix. Think about that...half the population we have on island today would be slaves if we were to time travel back to the 1800's. An enormous number when really thought about in terms of fellow human beings that were considered chattel.

In total 44,000 people residing on the three islands were enslaved while approximately 5,000 had papers proving that they were Free Coloured.

Down island rioting slaves in Martinique and Guadeloupe were creating increasing tension amongst plantation owners and officials in the Leeward Islands. It was feared that news of the turmoil would spread additional revolts through out the islands so Puerto Rico offered military help if necessary but Governor Von Scholten turned down the offer.

On July 2, Von Scholten arrived on St. Croix from St. Thomas...he was concerned about the war with Germany and outwardly projecting an aura of having had no idea how serious the rioting mood was on St. Croix. Personally i think he knew exactly what was going on when he ordered the firing of two alarm shots into the Christiansted harbor early on the morning of July 3. Doing this alerted both black and white alike to the impending turmoil that was to occur.

i'm no historian and the above is my own personal take regarding the history i have read about the events that lead to Emancipation. i think Von Scholten had slowly worked up to this point over many many years. Take for instance the fact that his mistress Anna Heegaard, a free black, had his ear and his love for a long long time, he abhorred the way managers treated blacks on their plantations, and although constrained by his position tried to treat everyone fairly. It was also his belief that when blacks wanted their freedom perhaps there was nothing else to do but give it to them.

The lost letter from von Scholten's brother in Fredericksted which contained estimates of the numbers of slaves that were assembling in that town certainly gave him some idea as to how serious the slaves were about wanting their freedom. The second letter from Von Scholtens brother urging him to hurry to Fredericksted and save the town was not only a plea but also the moment in history when he choose not to sail on the battle ship to Fredericksted but instead go by land. By the time he got there Andreson the police chief and his adjutant Diedrichsen had already told the slaves von Scholten would free them...how did they know this?

Andreson dictated “I declare hereby the unfree in this jurisdiction to be free.” With a space underneath where the Governor General's signature would go. Andreson signed it but it wasn't enough and the crowd plundered his estate and almost killed him. They then moved into town and joined up with others from other estates. It is said that Buddhoe was able to stop some of the crowd from looting in Fredericksted. I'm not going into all the nity gritty details of how it all came about but by 4:00pm Von Scholten arrives in Fredericksted and drives down to the fort.

He said to the crowd:

I, Peter Von Scholten, hereby proclaim:

1) All unfree in the Danish West Indies are from this day on free.

2. All blacks on the estates shall continue to make use of their houses and gardens for three months from this date, as they have previously enjoyed.
3. All future work is to be paid as mutually agreed on but allowances of provisions, etc. shall cease.
4. Old and weak, who cannot work, shall, until further decisions are made, be supported by the owner.

Given under the seal of the Governor-General and my signature July the 3^rd, 1848.

P. Von Scholten.

That night our own St. Croix Avis printed copies of the Proclamation to be spread around the island. The bloody events that happened in Christiansted before Von Scholten could return from Fredericksted made for an uneven progression to freedom. Planters and blacks alike took up arms.

Von Scholten took ill almost immediately and departed for Denmark never to return to the islands again. 

While the progression to freedom took its toll on all involved we must look back on history even though it is full of sadness and joy.

See ya next week.

i got the above information from Erik Lawaetz's “St. Croix 500 Years Pre-Columbus to 1990."