HR1955 like most Mistakes of the Day do, makes me sick to my stomach. It is not that this law could (and likely will) be abused, but the sheer need for it to exist.

You see, America has become entertainment for the world. The respected leader turned clown; our country found of freedom continues to pass legislation which cannibalizes that — her very soul. Soon, what will be left of her magic act? Likely only a stage littered with the disgust of what its audience propelled upon its ill performers as its final Act.

Rather than address the shift in social mobility, the current state of our wars and destruction around the globe, our lack of an equilibrium or development of sustainability, or even in the broadest sense how these things act together to orchestrate an on-going decline of our society, we choose to fill our Congress (and our minds) with things as trivial as baseball and celebrity.

Forget her business savvy, her amber waves of grain, and all the magic she’s shown us thus far. For, America is not the salt and garbage stew of the Atlantic, the ashy remains of the fiery West, nor the litter covered grounds of her monuments. No, America is an idea. One that unfortunately is slowly turning sour. While its officials use a magician’s misdirection, games and other social engineering polar tricks, we “Romans” are trapped in the Colosseum of our own excess.

On the stage of the world, we have become the magician’s rabbit; entertainment for the business of show. As an audience we’ve grown too large to leave our seats, too disinterested and egotistical to pay attention to the show, so jaded we have no appreciation even for our own existence. These are times troubled by man.

For all those pedestrian-minded simpletons who walk along the surface of liberty so many have fought to protect, I ask that you awaken from your lazy, sleep-walking, dream. The framers of our Constitution knew this day would come and speak to us all in the spirit of the law. Perhaps it is time we listened to their ghosts. It seems alive, they had eyes with which to see centuries gone, what we cannot see upon us, now.

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
– James Madison, US fourth president, 1751-1836

Look out! Run! Oh, no, sorry. Wait, stop. Oh, no, I was wrong, its coming straight for us, sorry… Run again! Hurry! Oops, hold on, something in my eye… oh, damn it all — Run! Run! Look out! The Terrorists are coming! The Terrorists are coming! Oh, wait, never you mind… stop a second… take a breather… the coast looks clear, guess my gut was wrong.

The above is fiction, for sure. Yet, at the risk of oversimplifying the process of reading a report, and explaining it to the American people, I wonder, do those statements sound like the kind of security advice you’d be willing to pay for? Probably not. But, that is probably because when it comes to security, the last thing anyone really wants is panic — the statements above smack of panic. And panic usually follows ignorance.

Well, the question of whether or not you would pay, friend, is moot to be sure. Because, you do pay so already. You pay for this wonderful service in taxes. Who’s giving us the advice? The Department of Homeland Security. That is right, the part of the government responsible for keeping our country secure, especially from people who want to terrorize us. Its an interesting irony then, how quickly members of our own government, but especially in this department, tend to use Terrorism as a political tool to meet points in their respective agendas — talk about terror — abusing the people who give you power might be the worst kind.

This little tidbit from AP shows Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff commenting about his gut feeling of the safety of our country. This sets a terrible precedent. This is the man tasked with making Americans feel confident about the country because the country is secure — thats what doing his job is all about. His key concern should be that Americans feel safe not panic.

Besides that, no one calls their boss — in this case the American people — to say what Chertoff is saying. Imagine, I might call up my boss and say, “Hey, so, $3,000,000 in the hardware you paid for, might go belly up this summer — I checked with my gut.” And there is a reason for this. I — you — we — would be fired. Not because we’re raising awareness to a problem, but for being aware of such a huge problem and not already involving the right people from jump — for letting the problems pile up.

See, its not my job to raise awareness of problems its my job to solve them — much like Secretary Chertoff. And, when a problem is too big for me, thats when I visit my bosses office. So, is that what Secretary Chertoff is telling us? He can’t secure our country? He can’t do the job? Thats information I’d be willing to “buy.” Because it takes me forward, I know who I do not want handling the problem, at least.

I mean, its only 2007; there have only been a few technological advances (*cough* Google *cough*) in information gathering in the past while. So seriously, the fact that our Secretary of Homeland Security is basing the safety of the free world on his gut feeling shouldn’t be an issue, should it?

Oddly enough, this all comes at the same time as political analysts determine the best bump in the poll numbers for the Republicans would come from announcing potential terrorist attacks in our near future — our President’s approval rating would rise especially — its suggested it would invigorate his base. And, various members of the Republican party have also come forward with this same “gut feeling.” For instance, the comments Rick Santorum recently gave.

I can’t help but believe this is all one big, heaping pile of Mistakes of The Day.

One question is, is it a mistake to listen to Secretary Chertoff’s gut?

I guess when it comes to security intelligence, you can’t have enough sources. So, of course, I’ll take heed. But, if you ruin my summer Mr. Chertoff, I’ll be alright. Its the whole summer session of the market I’m worried about. How exactly does your gut plan to repair the economic impact it just had on America through use of your mouth? I guess we’ll need to call in Vice President Cheney’s shooting hand in for help. All jokes aside, if its not too much trouble, mister Secretary, perhaps next time you might rely on your brain — that goes doubly for the American people.

Are we allowing the terrorists to act transparently through our government? It is certainly a possibility. Consider that the only true tactic of terrorists is creating terror.

A good question about the comments of Secretary Chertoff, and the terror they created, might be: is this intentional or accidental? And another is, is it a mistake to put the country in a position where concern for terrorist threats can be made a plaything for politicians or worse their gut feelings? Worst of all, who will we be able to trust to give us secure information to save our very lives?

These kinds of messages from government officials tend to destroy confidence, refute their own efforts, and can never solve any aspect of the problem, because (especially in this case) they offer up no facts. These kinds of messages are idle apparitions created by people who are looking for security of another kind: job security. And, if they’re not just idle apparitions and we are in danger, then, Secretary Chertoff , and Rick Santorum know something they’re not supposed to.

For the longest time I’ve worked off my own sense of a Copywrong; a valid (valid to me anyhow) argument which could contend with the reasoning behind the devising of a value for various information; a proof that all information should be valued the same — a belief that while information has no flaws, the platform mankind has implemented to exchange information (sociality) may. I just never really saw the belief for what it was…

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There are so many Mistakes of the Day here, I can find no easy place to begin. Hopefully, you know what Digg is, otherwise, there is a whole world of catching up for you to do in general.

I’ll summarize it for you quickly: 1) Digg is a large-scale, community-driven news website, 2) Some of the people who use Digg are more tech savvy than those people who created Digg, 3) Digg’s community posted trade secrets about HD-DVD decryption, 4) Digg co-founder Kevin Rose spoke out, agreeing with this posting of trade secrets, though, it was only after Digg staffers failed to censor their own community.

I guess sometimes people just say or do the wrong things…

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This will likely be a re-occurring article that I’m calling “Mistakes of the Day”, or MOTD — I hope to use it to make suggestions. The not so apparent thing here is: I’m hoping it will help in pointing out my own mistakes. I hope everyone wants to increase perspective. So, feel free to comment, or send an E-Mail. Today’s (first) MOTD is pretty easy to wrap your head around. I’ll call it “Drowning in Your Own Numbers.” And it has to do with the hot-topic of some “missing” E-Mail, from over in that big, White… House…

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