Has the world gone completely fucking mad? Yeah. Silly question.
Cat Stevens? Flight diverted after Cat Stevens found on watch list?!?
Our government should work on finding real terrorists. Like Osama Bin Ladin for one. I know I'm not the only one who sees how patently ludicrous this is. Cat Stevens/Yusef Islam has never done anything to indicate that he supports or condones terrorism. Just the opposite, in fact. This patriot act/faux homeland security bullshit is really starting to wear on my nerves.
Meanwhile, our government has consistently dropped the ball on real homeland security. How about turning back time and investigating those schmucks who were taking flight lessons in Arizona or paying attention to some important intelligence for once? What amazes me is that tax dollars are being spent to detain, and focus energy on, Cat "Peace Train" Stevens when there are more pressing things to worry about.
...Ride on the Peace Train...Oooh Ah Eee Ah Ooh Ah...Get on the Peace Train...
John Ashcroft! Tom Ridge! Bush Administration! Get on the Peace Train Ya Fucks!
Afterthought: You know, I think this whole crap with detaining and effectively deporting Cat Stevens is proof that our government's priority is not the eradication of terrorism as much as the eradication of muslims. The only reason he was detained is because he converted to Islam, not because he has terrorist ties or has expressed terrorist sentiments. I truly believe that the Bush administration is bent on converting the world to Christianity, and that they see the very idea of Cat Stevens, an artist loved by Americans, converting to Islam as an affront to this country and a traitorous act. Why else would he have been added to a no-fly list in the first place? The whole thing stinks of the bog of eternal stench that our homeland security policies have become.
Posted by Maria at September 22, 2004 09:51 AMI just saw that today on the news and was like, "huh?".....I was kinda thrown for a loop on this myself.
Posted by: sandy at September 22, 2004 10:59 AMI can't get that freakin Peace Train song out of my head! (I've been a huge Cat Stevens fan my whole life, and still listen to his music, so I find this whole thing really unbelievable...and silly)
Posted by: Maria at September 22, 2004 11:05 AMYeah..I've bought his music alot..ya know first on album, cassette tape and finally last year got it on CD..I've spent alot of money on this boy.
"I'm being followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow moon shadow
Leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
Moon shadow moon shadow
And if I ever lost my hands"
the guy who wrote this is no terrorists..sorry.haha.
Posted by: sandy at September 22, 2004 11:18 AMNo kidding! He's a hippie peace loving folk musician turned religious, not a hippie peace loving folk musician turned terrorist!
Posted by: Maria at September 22, 2004 12:20 PMI cannopt tell you how I know or the details behind what I know, but be rest assured, we are all being very closely watched. Let the Mad Mikey's and Geoff's say what they want, even think "conspiracy theory" but the fact is, personal privacy does not exist.
The problem with the "systems" in place as of now is they are very flawed. They are based on very loose algorithms that crunch information from millions of databases, that ultimatley paint a profile of you. Based on that profile, your information goes into several other databased. This is how you are tracked. Mostly everyone with a social secueity number or any other designation of significance that is not tied to a ss# is in at least one of these databases. For the most part, even if you were to write keywords in your AIM or yahoo chat window, you most likely won't get a visit from anyone. Key things they look for is #1 - Hopw much money do you make. This concerns them because anyone who makes significant amount of money can possible fund operations. #2 - What organizations are you affiliated with - major organizations that are considered "non mainstream" meaning they go against the grain (think PETA, EFF, MoveOn, etc.) and you are fairly active in them (just signing up for a nmailing list doesn't count). #3 - What type of work you do - think healthcare, computer, law enforcement.
I am not saying if you are a paid member of the EFF, work on computers in a clinic is going to raise eyborws, but the algorithms look for patterns. The flaw is these alogrithms sort of work like a weather prediction, but less reliable purley because there isn;t enough historical data to reference. Translation - they don;t really quite know the profile of a highly potential terrorist or supporter. The problem is that the database spits back a name like Cat Steven's because he may happen to have visited Israel 3 times last year and because he took part in several anti-war protests. Does this mean he is likely to be a terrorist? I think we know the answer to that.
When this system backfires and flag one of these asshole neocon's than we may see a change.
Now, here is where the truth lies - these systems are not design to look for terrorists. They are design to be sold as piece information to whoeever wants to buy it. Who wants to buy it? Marketing firms. Politcal Campign movements. Background Check Firms, etc. Anyone who is willing to pay for it basically. Bottom line - it is about making money. A by product of it is the government keeping a total eye on you.
The problem with this "predicitve modeling" is that it is not accurate. Unless they put a camera on you 24x7 they can enever get an accurate picture of who you are. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the next step, however.
I saw on the news this morning of Cat coming off the plane in London..what a sweet man..all he said was he hoped it was a mistake, because everyone makes them.
Posted by: sandy at September 23, 2004 11:35 AMAnD geoff is too much of a wus to rebuke my posting here, so he tears it up at his site where my posts are edited or changed or forged or all three.
Posted by: nunya at September 23, 2004 12:31 PMNunya, don't bring the shitstorm over here. I've already told you what I think about you throwing out bait to Geoff and Gordon (not to mention Mad Mikey of late), or mentioning them regularly in your posts. You need to chill dude.
Posted by: Maria at September 23, 2004 12:36 PMwithout giving a face to those who oppose you, maria, then your points can not be nailed home.
I mention these particular people because these are the folks these issues address. It is because of folks like these, our government is so fucked up. They keep allowing the government to get away with the illegal things they do and actually think it is good for us!
That's all fine and good Nunya, but when it comes down to it, you only seek to embroil yourself in fruitless trashfests when you continue to bait your enemies by name in threads where they have neither commented nor been mentioned by anyone other than you. You only play into their hand everytime you mention their names in relation to a topic where they really hold no significance whatsoever. I honestly think you need to unglue yourself from the concept that you must wake up every day and attempt to vanquish Geoffrey and Gordon and Mad Mikey in whatever way you can. There are many other people just like them. Your energy would be better spent attacking the ideology and principles that they actively embrace and the leaders that they support (whose opinions and actions really DO matter), rather than attacking them on a personal level or using them as an example for your thoughts on every topic. I only bring it up because it is a pattern and I'd like to see it stop. Their greatest joy is knowing that they have really got you heated and wound up in a fist about their beliefs or who they are as people. They are just little dots on this planet. They don't represent anything, contrary to your belief that their very existence is representative of the entire conservative community. They are individuals with no more power than you have, i.e., the power to vote and speak their minds. They are your adversaries, to be sure, because they support the greatest enemy of all: the Bush Administration, but it is unproductive to center discussions around them or to allow their views and the way that they express those views to become your greatest obsession. Until Geoff or Gordon are the ones running for office, I'm not going to occupy too much of my time worrying about them, and you shouldn't either. A debate is one thing, and if you address them in the context of a debate, then that makes perfect sense, but you accomplish nothing by mentioning them every chance you get. You're never going to change them, you are not going to effect how they vote with the tactics that you are currently using...I like to hear your thoughts on the subjects that I write about, but I don't like to see you allowing yourself to be consumed by a pre-occupation with those palookas.
Posted by: Maria at September 23, 2004 02:54 PMFound your blog from a link on Omnium (don't know if you know who that is, but he says good things about you're writing)
Anyway, I just wanted to say that it IS terribly silly, on the face of it, isn't it?
But then I remember that Yusef Islam was a supporter of the Iranian government's death warrant against Salmon Rushdie over the whole "Satanic Verses" thing, so, while I am inclined to think targeting him is ridiculous, I would like to know more about these supposed "new links to terrorism" they say he has before I will be ready to deride this incident completely.
Afterall, if Yusef Islam can support the desire of the Iranians to kill a writer over some silly novel, who ELSE might he want dead over other supposed "insults" to Islam, and how far would he go to support that?
Posted by: Passin Thru at September 25, 2004 07:37 AM