Hey America, so sorry about the lapse for a day, I had much to do.
Hmm....where were we? Ohhhhyeah.....Check #12, I believe.
Check Mark #12 - Government Agencies or Officials Declaring Themselves Exempt From Portions of the Law or Constitution
Well, well and well again. I think we've experienced this one a-plenty, hmmmm?
Some folks are automatically exempt from just about everything. Long ago, we made it impossible (or nearly so) for us to take out complaints, suit, or judgement against those in power. We can't do much about the President or his Vice, I know this much. Oh sure, eventually we could feasibly get an impeachment, if the wrong is great enough, and Congress is upset enough. We certainly can't complain much about those in charge of making our law. And we certainly can't do much about certain public officials: Judges and Lawyers, a prime example, to be sure. If a lawyer doesn't do the job we hired him to, or garners a judgement we didn't like at all, well, we're just screwed. If a judge over-rides the verdict of the Jury, well...that's the way it goes. Nothing we can do about it. Oh, we can appeal, but for the judge who ruled against us, there's no way to get him back for his possible one-sidedness or prejudice.
Some of this is perfectly understandable of course...If we could sue judges and lawyers, most of us would be in court almost every month for some sort of lawsuit, and the court system, already way over-booked, would be 5-10 yrs. behind schedule as opposed to six months to a year on average, depending on where you live. New York city criminal courts can sport wait times of 2 years or better.
Recently, Obamacare raised rumors that Congress was trying to pass (or did get passed) legislation that would exempt them from Obamacare. This was never true, as a matter of fact, there are more problems for Federal employees then there are for the common man. It's too bad it didn't happen, really. I think it would have been cool as heck to catch them red-handed trying to change the rules in their favor on something as big as Obamacare.
The Legislature is, as well as most Government, immune to OSHA, which is pretty big in and of itself. Evidently, there are other major laws that don't apply to Government either. Record keeping for workplace injuries and illnesses. Having to train employees about workplace right and legal remedies. Having to post notices of worker rights in offices. The Freedom of Information Act. Protection against retaliation for whistle-blowers. Investigatory subpeonas to obtain information for safety and health probes.
There should never be a reason that Government is immune to what we are held to by law. Congress isn't special, anymore than we are. These people represent us, so should, reasonably, be held accountable on these things like we are.
Let's do another one, shall we? I mean I did miss a day, right?
Check Mark #13 - Creation of Watchlists, no-fly lists and other exclusionary documents.
You know, I just have to think that the long term affects of 9/11 were much more disasterous than the event itself. Homeland Security, Airport security, spying on citizens, and, more importantly, watch lists and no-fly lists have literally made things that were already bad even worse. And thanks to the internet, which we all know is greatly monitored and has been for some time, every little word you and I publish is suspect.
The red flag list is pretty large, and is sectional, of course. I'm sure just my articles on Drugs alone in this blog have already landed me a party box seat in our national security agencies.
Here, you can find the list of words you should avoid stringing together in sentences, if you're not big on Big Brother watching over you:
http://lifehacker.com/5913945/words-to-avoid-online-if-you-dont-want-to-join-the-governments-watch-list
Check Mark #14 - National ID's.
Now, this one's not exactly in play....as yet. However, expect the move soon enough, as the technological age progresses by leaps and bounds. By not EXACTLY in play, ID's might just as well be national. They're more identical then they were once upon a time, to be sure. I'm sure that they have national standards at the very least for the stated purpose of preventing fraudulent attempts to create them. The mag strips found on all state ID's was a big move in the National ID up and coming...any state law enforcement agency across the country is able to scan and read these in order to get the skinny on you.
Of course, forcing Americans to carry their ID's is quite another thing altogether. This really scares me though, because as more and more states adopt this law, and, because of it, less and less people carry them, the next logical move by lawmakers, instead of national ID's might just be that futuristic thing I see more and more in the movies everyday. It wouldn't surprise me, if someday, the ID chip didn't make its way around the bend. Then truly would you know what's happening America. Oh, we'll fight it tooth and nail...for appearance sake. But the day it even smells like something might happen in this country, I'm hightailin' it to a deserted island somewhere, and I'll take my chances with the box-jellyfish and the land-sharks.
Til tomorrow America. Sleep well...or give it your best shot, huh??
Some of this is perfectly understandable of course...If we could sue judges and lawyers, most of us would be in court almost every month for some sort of lawsuit, and the court system, already way over-booked, would be 5-10 yrs. behind schedule as opposed to six months to a year on average, depending on where you live. New York city criminal courts can sport wait times of 2 years or better.
Recently, Obamacare raised rumors that Congress was trying to pass (or did get passed) legislation that would exempt them from Obamacare. This was never true, as a matter of fact, there are more problems for Federal employees then there are for the common man. It's too bad it didn't happen, really. I think it would have been cool as heck to catch them red-handed trying to change the rules in their favor on something as big as Obamacare.
The Legislature is, as well as most Government, immune to OSHA, which is pretty big in and of itself. Evidently, there are other major laws that don't apply to Government either. Record keeping for workplace injuries and illnesses. Having to train employees about workplace right and legal remedies. Having to post notices of worker rights in offices. The Freedom of Information Act. Protection against retaliation for whistle-blowers. Investigatory subpeonas to obtain information for safety and health probes.
There should never be a reason that Government is immune to what we are held to by law. Congress isn't special, anymore than we are. These people represent us, so should, reasonably, be held accountable on these things like we are.
Let's do another one, shall we? I mean I did miss a day, right?
Check Mark #13 - Creation of Watchlists, no-fly lists and other exclusionary documents.
You know, I just have to think that the long term affects of 9/11 were much more disasterous than the event itself. Homeland Security, Airport security, spying on citizens, and, more importantly, watch lists and no-fly lists have literally made things that were already bad even worse. And thanks to the internet, which we all know is greatly monitored and has been for some time, every little word you and I publish is suspect.
The red flag list is pretty large, and is sectional, of course. I'm sure just my articles on Drugs alone in this blog have already landed me a party box seat in our national security agencies.
Here, you can find the list of words you should avoid stringing together in sentences, if you're not big on Big Brother watching over you:
http://lifehacker.com/5913945/words-to-avoid-online-if-you-dont-want-to-join-the-governments-watch-list
Check Mark #14 - National ID's.
Now, this one's not exactly in play....as yet. However, expect the move soon enough, as the technological age progresses by leaps and bounds. By not EXACTLY in play, ID's might just as well be national. They're more identical then they were once upon a time, to be sure. I'm sure that they have national standards at the very least for the stated purpose of preventing fraudulent attempts to create them. The mag strips found on all state ID's was a big move in the National ID up and coming...any state law enforcement agency across the country is able to scan and read these in order to get the skinny on you.
Of course, forcing Americans to carry their ID's is quite another thing altogether. This really scares me though, because as more and more states adopt this law, and, because of it, less and less people carry them, the next logical move by lawmakers, instead of national ID's might just be that futuristic thing I see more and more in the movies everyday. It wouldn't surprise me, if someday, the ID chip didn't make its way around the bend. Then truly would you know what's happening America. Oh, we'll fight it tooth and nail...for appearance sake. But the day it even smells like something might happen in this country, I'm hightailin' it to a deserted island somewhere, and I'll take my chances with the box-jellyfish and the land-sharks.
Til tomorrow America. Sleep well...or give it your best shot, huh??
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