Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun

Thursday, February 25, 2016

FIGHTING WINTER-PRIVACY AND FREEDOM-RAPE AND FOOTBALL

FOR THE WINTER WEARY
     This post offers a few scenes for those of you who are winter weary. We hope the color, green and sunny scenes bolster you through what remains of that cold gray or worse.
     Our morale booster follows below.
 PRIVACY IS A FREEDOM
      It is a hard call, privacy vs investigative reach, but Apple is correct is denying access or a back door into personal information on phones or other devices.
      Privacy is under attack just in the way we live with technology and marketing. The Snowden and Wiki leaks disclosures detail how government is and can snoop. People often forget how willingly they open their lives to surveillance and manipulation via social media, on-line commerce and other transactions.
      We appreciate how difficult is the task of those who work to provide security. Intelligence and law enforcement are challenged by increasingly sophisticated adversaries and the capacity of modern communications. Still we cannot concede an inch of our right to privacy even if it makes investigation, prosecution or intelligence gathering easier. 
      We discovered the excessive reach in the Patriot Act, an emotional response to 9/11. If we give up expectations of privacy and personal rights the bad guys begin to win. It is an objective of terrorists to force democratic governments to behave like fascists or repressive regimes. When that happens we loose.
       Despite the difficulty a democratic republic must value individual rights and liberties. There are many other reasons beyond the philosophical rightness, not the least of which is human incompetence which can and has infected government agencies. There is also the fact that even with good intentions, governments can be used and manipulated by administrations and regimes with less than honorable intentions. Two names to help make that case-Richard Nixon and Watergate cover up. There is also Dick Cheney and his corrupt manipulation in energy and war business. If other less than honorable or zealot driven governments had what the government is pushing Apple for, then what happens to the freedoms we say make us different than dictators, strongmen or others like Stalin, Hitler, Putin, Assad, Isis, and etc.?
       Freedom means just that. Nothing less. 
 NATURE SAYS CHEERS!




      Hang in there, spring is on the way.
 RAPE AND FOOTBALL
     It's unclear how the Tennessee matter will resolve in the courts but football thuggism and sexual assault continue to plague us. In this most recent case a Tennessee player came to the aid of a rape victim. She had been attacked by two of the man's team mates. Later the good Samaritan was attacked and injured by team mates and when he complained to his coach Butch Jones, Jones berated the man and said "he betrayed his team."
     There is ample documentation of how players are coddled, how aberrant behavior is overlooked, how educational standards are ignored so a football player can compete. It starts in public schools, continues in some colleges and we have all seen how many NFL players are involved in criminal activity, assaults and domestic battery.
     When coaches like Butch Jones are around it's no wonder.
THE COAST IS CLEAR
     Coming soon, up the coast.

     See you down the trail.

10 comments:

  1. Then there's the Manning incident, settled and then brought up in Archie's book. Same school.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful picture of that mountainous coast and the clear blue waters of the Pacific.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stay tuned. A future post will feature a couple of other shots. A spectacular day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'ts so unfortunate what has happened to college sports, i sound like another geezer when I talk about basket ball and football of the 60's and now, though my alma mater Oregon, has changed culture to an extreme from then.

    With so many issues our country is facing, this seems trivial, eh? New issues with privacy, the possibility of Trump being president, on and on.

    The calla lilies are lovely, we had them at our wedding, in 1968.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We love the calla lilies though some in the area think of them as a pest, since they grow wild. We consider that good luck.

      Delete
  5. It's hard to imagine that Apple can't extract the information law enforcement needs. The same case for privacy was fought and lost by phone companies years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting analysis, your comparison to the phone companies and the old fashioned "phone tap."

      Delete
  6. Callas are among my favorites, as are your opinions on personal privacy. And are those forget-me-nots? I can't remember. But a fine post as always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those are forget-me-nots, found in Big Sur. Better to tell you now, lest I forget. Thanks for the kind words.

      Delete