(no subject)
Nov. 30th, 2007 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oselleUm, what the hell is up with those new "inappropriate content" warnings on LJ posts? Do I have to apply those warnings to my profanity-laced posts or else risk getting bounced from LJ? Or does it just apply to le porn?
In other news, a secret pilot program is being tested in the New York City Fire Department to sniff out "suspicious material or behavior" in people's homes. And I don't mean suspicious arsonist behavior or something like that. I mean, potential terrorist material or behavior. See, the NYFD doesn't need a warrant to come into your home and start digging around. And you know, your house doesn't need to be on fire for them to come in either. How easy would it be for them to be sent into someone's home under pretense of, say, "a smell of smoke," and then...oh, I don't know. Going through your reading material? Or the contents of your computer? And what, exactly, is considered "suspicious?" Schematic plans for the local nuclear power plant? A Koran on the bookshelf? A subscription to The Nation?
I have tremendous respect for the NYFD, and for all firefighters, and I can't believe they would allow themselves to be deputized as some sort of secret police. But this? Is still scary as hell.
Naomi Wolf has written a book, The End of America, about the "fascist shift" that she sees happening in America. This is the sort of thing that right-wingers like to roll their eyes over and call alarmist, "lunatic-fringe" stuff. But it's really not sounding so far-fetched, is it?
In other news, a secret pilot program is being tested in the New York City Fire Department to sniff out "suspicious material or behavior" in people's homes. And I don't mean suspicious arsonist behavior or something like that. I mean, potential terrorist material or behavior. See, the NYFD doesn't need a warrant to come into your home and start digging around. And you know, your house doesn't need to be on fire for them to come in either. How easy would it be for them to be sent into someone's home under pretense of, say, "a smell of smoke," and then...oh, I don't know. Going through your reading material? Or the contents of your computer? And what, exactly, is considered "suspicious?" Schematic plans for the local nuclear power plant? A Koran on the bookshelf? A subscription to The Nation?
I have tremendous respect for the NYFD, and for all firefighters, and I can't believe they would allow themselves to be deputized as some sort of secret police. But this? Is still scary as hell.
Naomi Wolf has written a book, The End of America, about the "fascist shift" that she sees happening in America. This is the sort of thing that right-wingers like to roll their eyes over and call alarmist, "lunatic-fringe" stuff. But it's really not sounding so far-fetched, is it?