Approaching the Spartans

A quick examination of 21st Century America shows a society that is quite different than the society of the ‘Pax Americana’. Today the USA carries an enormous defense budget, by far the largest in the world and yet fear is found at all levels of society. Almost all of the New Deal programs are gone, and the country has instituted severe cutbacks in social spending. Today, many of its leaders and citizens publicly reject a social spending model. This was made very clear with the failure of the attempt to create a Universal Health Care system. The idea was vigorously opposed, generating mass protests and many people were being told it was socialist or communist plot to destroy the country.

Other social issues such as poverty, homelessness and low education, all of which are on the rise, are viewed as the natural result of laziness or incompetence. 1 In 21st Century America, despite high unemployment and a slow economy, the idea of launching New Deal style ‘back to work’ programs or creating a new form of government payment program for the elderly or impoverished would be unthinkable.

Instead, the emphasis today, even during a sever recession is on individual citizens ‘carrying their weight’, and not ‘taking handouts’. This is more than just talk, the ‘Block grants’ created under Nixon to finance relief agencies that support the poor in their communities are being drastically reduced. 2 In addition to the reduction of aid for the needy, even middle class advantages are being peeled away. The few remaining employee labor unions are being attacked and disbanded by aggressive governors who are trying to slash state budgets. Tight school budgets are resulting in an ever increasing demand that parents contribute to their child’s early education by donating directly to the schools. 3 The ever increasing costs of both university tuition and health insurance, is squeezing out more and more of a person’s current and future income.

Clearly 21st Century America with its emphasis on slashing social spending, promotion of individual self-reliance, removal of community cost sharing and overwhelming obsession with security and defense is a very, very different nation not just from its Roman roots but with the reality of Rome itself.

Somewhere along the way America severed itself from its Roman roots and seems to have unwittingly adopted a new model for nationhood, Ancient Sparta.

The road away from Rome.

By common consensus, in the 21st Century United States, the ‘Pax Amercana’ is over. While disagreement exists regarding the when or even the why, there is little argument that 21st Century America is not enjoying much peace and prosperity. 1

What happened to the Pax Americana? This is a big question and there are many answers ranging from the end of the Cold War to the simple passage of time. Honestly, simply blaming the passage of time is not good enough. While it is true that all good times end, the reasons can be found if one looks more closely.

In the case of the United States, it was not the forces of the outside world; it certainly was not the end of the Cold War. Such an answer is illogical as the fall of the Communist Bloc merely cemented US supremacy. Instead, one must look within the US, to find a serious of profound internal changes that, over time have created a very different society than the one which existed in the post war years. What ended the ‘Pax Americana’ was America itself.

Today a lack of public optimism, a sharply divided political population and a steep decline in general standards of living are clearly visible the United States. These realities show the lie behind American Exceptionalism and make the ‘American Dream’ sound like wishful propaganda. George Carlin, an American comedian claimed in the 1990’s that ‘The American Dream’ was really a dream because a person had to be asleep to believe in it.

Of course the USA still enjoys profound military might and vast international influence. Notably, in Ancient Rome, these powerful tools were used to expand and preserve the influence of Roman society. In late 20th Century America the usefulness of these tools has proven very different from those earlier Roman ideals. Rather than using its military or economic might to preserve or sustain its society, the United States has repeatedly utilized these powerful instruments to change the very nature of American society itself. This restructuring has occurred over a succession of years and has been a slow, but powerful process.

The end of the social building era which had sustained American society occurred during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Nixon took a hard tack away from the Great Society, the last of the New Deal style federal programs. Nixon dismantled of the Office of Economic Opportunity, (a work-placement service similar to the old WPA). The Nixon government (and those that came after it) would no longer help people find work; people had to do that on their own. Additionally, Nixon publicly began to push the nation toward an ideal of individual self-sufficiency. This viewpoint, that each citizen must be able to do everything for themselves, and that public assistance programs would be phased out of government would become the foundation for the new American future. 2

Now, it must be pointed out that while many government assistance programs were cut, there was an expansion of social spending under Nixon. However, money does not equal help. Government spending under Nixon took a very different form than previous direct assistance programs like WPA or Social Security. Rather than put money into direct ‘government to citizen’ projects or programs like job training or infrastructure improvements, the spending was removed from direct contact with the citizenry. The creation of ‘block grants’ enabled the government to give money, not to citizens, but to approved private or charity organizations. The establishment of a national ‘minimum wage’ was a method to ensure employers, not the government, was providing adequate pay to the citizens. Food vouchers (food stamps) were instituted which required the poor to exchange the worthless vouchers fore food at commercial retailers who would then be repaid in cash by the government. Each of these programs created a strong separation, between government support and the citizens needing that support. 3 This made it that much easier to ’starve the beast’ as many opponents of government programs like to say. It is worth noting that, to these people, ‘the beast’ is government spending on society itself.

What is often overlooked about the new programs under Nixon were that they were more difficult for needy citizens to qualify for, and often much harder for them to utilize. These ‘hidden’ aspects such as long and complex application forms, extensive or invasive interviews of house cleaning and job seeking habits and frequent re-registration requirements, served another purpose. The goal was no longer to provide assistance, but rather to ensure that those receiving aid through the new programs would repeatedly be reminded to get off of public assistance and to become self-sufficient. The ‘Block grant’ concept divorced charity from the federal government and passed it completely to the states and private charities that competed with one another for access to the federal money. The government under Nixon and ever after wanted out of the assistance business.

That these considerable changes to social programs were accomplished at the same time as the Vietnam War is significant. Nixon’s ability to conjoin national warfare and social restructuring social set a new standard for American governance. Warfare and defense spending would prove to be an ever growing portion of the budget and allowed for continual  squeezing and reduction of money for ‘block grants’ or other social support systems. Similar actions were repeated under numerous administrations particularly Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both of who directly attacked one of the few remaining federal charities, unemployment payments, (commonly called Welfare). Ultimately, this marriage of eliminating government social programs during wartime reached its zenith in George W. Bush’s ‘Ownership Society’ which aimed to privatize Social Security and Medicaid while the US military was embroiled in two different and fantastically expensive combat theatres, Iraq and Afghanistan. 4

Welcome to part one of a serial blog (a series of bite sized blog entries that make a larger whole). The subject of this serial is the current state of American society.

When looking for a suitable historical society or empire to compare with America most people choose Ancient Rome. This is a reasonable comparison for most people, both had a Senate, marble buildings, a strong military and considerable global influence. When looking at the ‘founding fathers’ of America and their writings, the influence of Roman ideals is obvious. Much like Rome, America sees itself as the high point of civilization. Much like Rome, America has often used a combination of ‘hard power’ (military might) and ‘soft power’ (alliances, trade agreements and economic power) to help shape events in other countries and secure its own interests.

Ancient Rome saw itself as the pre-eminent culture and military force, providing both justice and strength to its people and to other peoples. One could easily substitute ‘Rome’ for ‘USA’ in the above sentence. America’s sense of its own worth is tremendous indeed, and even has its own name ‘American Exceptionalism’.

However, these surface features hide serious changes which have been occurring within American Society and while American Exceptionalism is still alive and well, American society seems to resemble Ancient Roman less and less.

The purpose of this writing is threefold. First to acknowledge the well established commonalities America shares with Ancient Roman civilization. Second to, present the idea that American society has, over the last few decades, been moving quickly and rather strongly away from a ‘Roman’ approach to civil society. Lastly, to argue that 21st Century America is no longer ‘Roman’ but has come to better resemble Ancient Spartan society.

Pax Romana, Pax Americana

While it is common knowledge that the Ancient Romans built a powerful empire supported by military might, economic influence and in some cases, intimidation and enslavement, many aspects of its civil society seem to be less well known. Roman society was remarkably stable and supportive. A 6 hour workday, numerous holidays and numerous free public structures (like the famous public baths and public parks) created a flourishing society. In Roman culture it seems that the emphasis was not on the individual but on the health of the society. 1

The fierce Roman legions fought to both enrich and to preserve this society. With the inscription SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) the legions were always reminded that they represented not just an empire but a way of life and the preservation of that society, that way of life was paramount for almost all of Roman history. Roman Senators and even the Emperors were very sensitive to the public mood and state support of the underclass population was a key component of Roman Society. 2

While never as overtly and outwardly social as the Romans, America did engage in a sustained period of creating a more just and social civic society. To combat the destructive effects of The Great Depression, the introduction of socially driven New Deal programs reshaped American Society into a more cohesive and interdependent social structure. The reduction of poverty and the deprivations of old age were primary targets for the new reforms. The Work Progress Administration was a government job placement service which matched open jobs with the millions of unemployed. Social Security began mailing money (by check) to retired elderly who had no income. For those lucky enough to be employed but worried about shaky banks, Federal Deposit Insurance was created to protect the savings of citizens, both from bank fraud and from bank collapse.

These ‘New Deal’ social programs were continued after World War II and new ones were devised in the modern era focusing on national infrastructure such as the Interstate Highway System mega project, as well as urban renewal via agencies like HUD (Housing and Urban Development).

The net effect of this decades long, large scale public participation reached its highpoint in the post war boom years often termed the ‘Pax Americana’. Comparable to the ‘Pax Romana’ it was a period sustained peace and prosperity built on the triple pillars of military peace social stability and international influence.

2010 was, for me, a diverse and memorable year. Unlike previous years where adversity loomed large, 2010 proved to be a year of achievement and personal adventure.

In 2010 I moved to Europe. Normally we could end the story right here ‘cause changing continents tends to be the highlight of any given year, but in 2010 we can’t do that. Why? Because that happened in January…

I began a teaching career in 2010 something I have often imagined doing. Sure, things started slow but really began taking off around June and as of now I have a full schedule well into 2011. All feedback has been positive and honestly, I really like my job.

I got married in 2010, to a wonderful woman whom I am happy to be with. Our ceremony was held on the Danish island of Aero (pictures), and we took our Honeymoon in Malta a tiny tri-lingual island nation in the Mediterranean Sea. Click here for Pictures…

Friends old and new played a big part in 2010, I got to see Ben again, and I partied with Brendon and his wife Lesa two times this year, in 3 different countries! (Canada, Germany and The Netherlands) which is pretty cool in my book. Speaking of countries here are the nations I have been in 2010:

Canada – Winnpeg & Toronto
Denmark - Aero and Aeroskobing Denmark
Germany – Cologne, Münster, Osnabrück and the North Sea
Great Britain - London and the cliffs of Beachy Head
Malta - Malta, Comino, & Gozo
The Netherlands – Amsterdam & Enschede

In short, I have been to more countries in 2010 than in all previous years combined.

I correctly predicted that the Euro Crises would not in fact lead to the collapse of the EU or even the Euro itself but was in fact merely a chapter in the Great Recession. Link http://www.cobalisk.com/blog/2010/07/ . Its 2011, the Euro is still here and the Eurozone just added a new member, Estonia.

Back to my little life…
I started a retirement account, I stopped smoking, Carlos sent me my CDs from the US (Thanks Carlos!) I stopped dyeing my hair, I wrote some decent poems, I wrote a new and a pleasantly popular recipe (which I still need to upload). I took what many consider as my best photo ever in 2010 (sent via email only). I guest lectured at the local college. I drove a scooter for the first time in my life, I cooked a 24 lb Turkey for American Thanksgiving in Germany, I bought my first VW and got to drive it 188 km/h. I made great new friends,  I complained a LOT less and smiled a LOT more, I took the dog on lots of walks, I called my mother often, I gave money to needy people and I held the doors open for ladies of all ages.

In 2010, I achieved, for the 2^nd time in my life, actual happiness.

On December 31^st of 2009, I had no idea what 2010 would be like…Now, I know.

I would like to do that again.

I support freedom of information, the Freedom of Information Act and an informed citizenry, so stay informed.
[ Hat tip : http://213.251.145.96/ because www.wikileaks.org has been shut down and its all on mirror sites now. ]

[Bradley Manning awaits a Court Martial and Julian Assange has surrendered to UK police as of this writing. I expect extradition and execution either deliberate or 'accidental' to befall one or both of these two men very soon.]

Many people have asked me recently what I think about Wikileaks. This is a compliment; because no one asks you this if they do not want to weigh your opinion. Nevertheless, I worry, I worry that people have not made up their mind or that they may be looking for guidance. This issue is obvious, a huge embarrassment to the United States Government resulting in a small non-profit being targeted by the same United States Government because they have released documents, videos and diplomatic transmissions that the US government does not want people to read. Now we are being told that this information will cause lives to be lost. If you believe this argument, please consider the following:

Have the wikileaks documents told us anything we did not know about military cover-ups? Not really, most people by now understand that the military is very dishonest about events that take place in a war zone. For example, the despicable Pat Tillman cover-up tells us this.
(Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37679-2004Dec5.html?nav=hcmodule )

Have the Wikileaks documents given us new information proving that the US State Department and CIA wrongfully arrested, transported, then imprisoned and tortured people like Khaled Masri?  No, we knew this already and also that Masri was not the only one, there are many more.
(source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/03/AR2005120301476.html )

Have the Wikileaks videos revealed to an ignorant public that numerous Iraqi and Afghani civilians as well as a number of foreign journalists have been killed by US forces and their deaths unreported, or information denied to families, the public at large, and even large news organizations? No, Reuters asked in 2007 for information regarding the deaths of its reporters because it knew the official story was baloney.
(Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6344FW20100406?pageNumber=2 )

I mean, if we all know this stuff, what’s the fuss? Why is the US launching DOS (Denial of Service) attacks on the Wikileaks? Why is Hillary Clinton condemning the material? Why is Sarah Palin saying that Assange has blood on his hands (like the CIA doesn’t?)? Why are senators calling for espionage charges, why is Pfc Bradley Manning facing a prison sentence of 52 YEARS in Leavenworth prison?

Because knowing and actually seeing are two different things. Because suspicion and proof are miles apart. The US Government knows this and wants to prevent the proof from being seen. We ‘know’ these things happen and we suspect as much but it is still abstract. Now we can see it, clearly and we can begin to understand why and how these colossal blunders leading to death and destruction are happening. And why they are happening quite a bit. (Source: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/14/friendlyfirevideo )

But don’t take my word for it. Here is what Manning himself said : “I want people to see the truth … because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.” (Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=11098993&page=1 )

Manning sacrificed himself, not for his government which covers up its mistakes nor for it’s military which lies to its people but for his country, you know, America and its’ citizens.

Read, Vote, and question public information, hold your government accountable.

If two men could do all of this, what can you do?

In the midst of the Euro crises, I was seething. Brushing up on debt ratios, reading blogs decrying the PIIGS (Portugual, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) and their wasteful ways, watching the Euro drop daily against the dollar and pound while some people, mostly in the UK and the US insterstingly enough, clamored for the dissolution of the EU itself. This stuff was not fun research. I kept telling myself, this has to stop, this cannot go on, it makes no sense. At the time few others seemed to feel that way and I was really starting to second guess myself.

But I could not shake the feeling that things were way out of line. I kept thinking of the movie ‘Wall Street’ where Hal Holbrook tells Charley Sheen “Stick to the fundamentals kid”. See, I looked at the fundamentals, over and over again during the Euro Crises and people dumping Euros to rush to Pounds and Dollars made little sense. Greece’s debt crises was paltry, negligible, a mosquito on the arm compared to the debt of the UK or the granddaddy of all debt in human history, that of the United States. Greece comprised 2% of the EU’s GDP, the EU having eclipsed the US some years ago as the largest economy in the world, should have indicated that the EU could absorb the problem. In addition France and Germany, the big ballers of the EU were already out of the recession, posting modest growth and globally, international trade was on the upswing. Greece was struggling but the Eurozone itself was actually coming out of the Great Recession. Why should the currency and the bound economic policies get scrapped when the evidence clearly showed that they were in fact working?

A tremendous amount of ink has been spilled about the Euro Crisis by far more learned persons than I. Nevertheless, nothing I read anywhere during the crises ever said ‘This is illogical and not sustainable, Europe cannot collapse because of Greece’. No one refuted the stupidity of the ‘domino theory’, that markets punishing Greek debt would then move to jacking up bond rates on Italy, Spain and Ireland to the point where they caused massive default and brought down the whole Euro system. No one stood up and said the ‘wisdom of the market is foolishness.’

The only person I know of, who said any of these things, was me.

The Euro crisis is most definitely over by the way. Look at currency trading over the last 3 months if you need proof. It is time for the post mortems to begin. Doubtless most will talk about the Trillion Euro safety net, the IMF Greece deal and the draconian (but not nearly draconian enough) curbs on speculators and the grousing (but not regulating, sadly) of gargantuan hedge funds that can literally pull the world financial markets in their direction. All of these things are important and most, if not all of them were very necessary. I realize quite clearly that if the EU governments chose to take no action, and let the market hysteria have its way, that certainly that would have led to a disaster. But my question today is, will those writing the post mortem look back and say ‘When the governments of the EU intervened in financial activities directly why did it work so quickly and more importantly, so effectively?’

The IMF deal was announced on May 2 and as of this writing it is July 3rd, so two months have gone by. The news on May 2nd was ‘would the deal be enough, will the markets approve of this as sufficient’, and of course most writing about it were betting no.

Today, the indicators demonstrate that things are very different than two months ago. Europe instituted Austerity (variously sized spending cuts and tax hikes) not just among the PIIGS but almost the entire continent, even in Germany the strongest of the strong. Shortly thereafter, the UK followed the European example of slashing government expenses but on a massively larger scale to combat their massively larger debt. The US of course did not and continues to suffer under a gianormous debt load, dismal job reports, flagging consumer confidence, the beginning of a double dip recession and meanwhile Wall Street, is again riding high creating the need for Financial reform currently being debated in the US Congress. On the flip side, many European countries, particularly Germany are experiencing even more robust growth and the Euro is not only stable; it is once again rising against the flaccid dollar and even the pound.

See, the Euro Crisis was a blip, some are now calling it a ‘correction’ asserting that the Euro was overvalued and needed to be brought in line and that is why the shoring up and budget cuts worked so well. In short, it seems that the panic actually was overrated.

Remember, the Great Recession was not caused by the Euro Crisis; it was caused by the immense implosion of financial and housing markets in the US, the massive debt load in Iceland and the naked exposure of many of the UK’s banks which found themselves either failing outright or in desperate need of saving. The Euro Crisis was merely a chapter in the sad tale of the Great Recession, and the solution of Austerity is another chapter but the book itself is so very much larger than these two chapters.

Looking back on the Euro Crises, the whole thing, from start to finish lasted little more than two months, from late April to late June. Now, interestingly enough, there is concern that the cure for the Euro Crisis is somehow causing harm, not to the EU, but to those around the EU like the US, the UK and even Russia. See, Europe’s austerity, which effectively killed the attacks on its currency, is now being blamed by American Economists for leading the US and other nations into a double dip recession in addition to promting the UK to gut itself. In particular, Germany is being criticized by the US for exporting too much and not consuming enough and for leading the Austerity charge out of Greece and into Europe at large. This latest chapter in the Great Recession promises to be just as delusional as the ones before it, again pointing the finger not at the problems themselves but some other convenient target. It reminds me of another movie quote this time from the movie ‘The Insider’ where Phillip B. Halls tells Al Pacino “Face it, you fucked us”
and Pacino replies
“No, YOU fucked You, don’t get things inverted…”

The simplest things can make a person take stock of their life.

Today I was given a factory tour. It felt nice to be given the VIP treatment of course. The company, which makes plastic packaging and various transparent films, was clean, well run, and provided ready answers to my environmentally focused questions. From a solvent reclamation center where 95% of the used solvents are reclaimed for re-use to battery powered forklifts where the giant battery blocks also serve as counterweights, most of the processes I saw were pretty good examples of reduce and reuse, responsibly.

The last part of the tour was with a subsidiary firm, which handles how the finished products are warehoused for distribution to customers. Upon entering the capacious warehouse, the first thing I noticed was the smell, because it smelled like plastic, not diesel or CNG exhaust. That of course prompted the discussion which led to the ‘battery as counterweights’ information. I got to ride in the giant super-highlift unit (max height 15 meters or 49 feet) and discuss the computer controlled navigation and obstacle avoidance system onboard.

After my forklift ride I considered the following…

The last time I was in a forklift, a ghastly, exhaust belching unit; I was driving it, as an order picker at a facility similar to this one, in Effingham, Illinois. It was backbreaking work as buckets of paint are very heavy and I had to load my forklift with muscle power. The pay was decent but the shift was late at night and conversation was minimal. When not working, I lived alone in a basement with a load of debt, an unfinished college education, very little achievements to my name and no health or dental insurance.

By contrast, today I was riding in a considerably larger, cleaner and more impressive forklift. I was a VIP, surrounded by people who respected my knowledge and abilities. Between tour stops we walked in warm sunshine and chatted amicably about the facility and life in general. I now possess a university degree, have my own website, a catalogue of mediocre photographic works, and a cookbook I wrote sometime ago but still use weekly. I have ready access to an excellent public health and dental plan and am debt free. Instead of living alone in a basement in nowhere, Illinois, I live alongside four other splendid people in their rambling rustic family house, in Europe.

On the drive home after the tour I heard a song on the radio (wavin flag by k’naan), the chorus begins like this:

When I get older, I will be stronger…

Yeah, pretty much.

As some of you may know, April is Autism Awareness Month. I have been posting this over and over again in my status. My wife said if I really want to raise awareness I should add some facts or change it up a bit, so I’ve decided to talk about what having a son with Autism is like.

From the time he was a baby rocking in his carrier all by himself, we knew he was different, the boy loved to rock, in his baby swing, in his crib, in his carrier, he was rocking. As a toddler he played differently, he would line up his toys; he would do his shape sorter, in the same order over and over. He couldn’t sort the shapes out of order. Now as a parent you don’t want your child to be different or have anything wrong, so sometimes you hope if you ignore it it will go away, it doesn’t. As he got older, his behaviors seemed to become more peculiar and it was also very obvious the boy was smart, too smart. It may seem funny to worry that your child is too smart, but when you know, he knows things he shouldn’t or can do things he should be able to do, part of you worries. So we started asking questions at check ups, and doing research on our own. everything seemed to point to Autism Spectrum Disorder, specifically Asperger Syndrome. The Pediatricians told us to what and see we knew better. These same Pediatricians also told us he had Hydrocephalus when he was a baby, and wanted to put a stint in his head. Turns out he just had a big head, which by the way can be an early sign of Autism. At 4yrs old we needed to know for sure before he started Kindergarten. We got the referral and had him tested. After meeting with a Therapist and a Psychologist, we were told our son had Asperger Syndrome, a form of Autism. We where not surprised, so there was no shock, or grief. It was actually comforting in a strange way, to finally have an explanation for the way our son is. Now when he “melts down” in Wal-Mart because he’s over stimulated, and people are staring shaking there heads, I can look at them and say “He’s Autistic” and they will understand and not judge. Trust me this makes a difference, before the diagnosis, he would “melt down” in the sore, people stare at you, label you a bad parent, and your kid a brat, and walk away, and you start to believe it. My own relatives would do this to us at family gatherings. so as I was saying, a diagnosis can be a relief. Now I would love for him to be “normal” and not have anything wrong at all, but as his therapist has told us many times, if your child is going to have something wrong, this is what you want them to have. As a person with Aspergers, he joins the likes of Mozart, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, and Carl Sagan, not a bad crowd. Now obviously not all those people where actually diagnosed with Aspergers, but based on current diagnostic criteria, they are thought to have had it. Now it’s not all unicorns and rainbows, there is an extreme down side. Our son is weird, no other way to put it. He rocks back and forth when he sits, stands, talks, listens to music, or plays video games. He kinda stands out in a crowd with this rocking behavior. He is a VERY picky eater, and it changes constantly, he likes it then he doesn’t, and that’s in the same meal. He also takes everything literally, if I tell him to throw his plate in the sink, he will throw it. If I tell him his room is a mess, I am stating a fact, he doesn’t get that I want him to clean it. He has many social problems, like not understanding social hierarchy; he sees himself and everyone else as equal. In theory this sounds great except, as parents, we need to exert our authority, and his teachers need to instruct him. He has asked his teachers why they just get to sit there while he has to do all the work, now this sounds cute and funny, but that is how he sees things, we are all equal. Once a teacher asked him to throw away something, and he said ” Say please”, of course the teacher thought he was being a smart mouth, but again, treat him the way you want to be treated, we are all equal. He gets bored in school easily, he is usually done with his math first and has to “just sit there” as he puts it. By the same token, his hand writing is poor at best, so he almost never finishes his written work in school. He loves numbers, and counting and telling time, I nick named him Big Ben because he is always announcing what time it is. He can read an analog clock with 100% accuracy, and has been since he was 4. His counting has no limit, I assume to infinity, he knows his money very well. I’m sure there are parents with ” normal” kids who can do this, they read to them in the womb bought the Baby Einstein DVD’s, and played classical music. We didn’t do these things, he just naturally gets numbers. On the down side, he hates reading, he use to love to read words, till the school made him sound things out, he use to just look at a word and “decode” it so to speak. He wasn’t sounding it out, he just figured it out. After 2 yrs of school, he has regressed in his reading because he is using the sound it out method, and he doesn’t really get it, so he gives up.

As for his social skills, it’s hit or miss. He seems to make friends just find except EVERYONE is his best friend. But when we are in public, he will share intimate details of our lives with complete strangers, completely unprompted. Sometimes he comes across as rude I will give 2 examples. We where in Wal-Mart and as we where walking down the aisle, he said to his sister ” don’t forget we need bologna”, now a little old man and his wife where walking down the aisle the other way, the little old man stopped and said to him ” Oh, you can’t forget the bologna, I always have to have bologna in my house”. My son looked at him and said ” I wasn’t talking to you” and walked away. He wasn’t being rude, he was stating fact. Another time we where at the check out in Lowes, the elderly man behind the register told my son he was going to put him to work behind the register because he had so much energy. My son looked at him and said ” If you touch me I will punch you’. Again sounds rude, but he knows strangers don’t touch, but he doesn’t know that the man was kidding. He doesn’t get it.

As for the future, there is hope he will outgrow it. He will always have Autism, but some kids learn to integrate themselves as they get older. I personally like his little quirks, but I also know that society only accepts normal, and I don’t want him to feel an outcast. Only time will tell, either way I love him, probably more than my other kids. I know that sounds unfair but it’s honest. He is so special and needs so much attention and patients we can’t help feeling more strongly about him.

I hope my little diatribe helps give some insight into the world of Autism. It affects so many people and affects us all differently. I welcome your comments.

Allen

The recent ruling by the European Parliament not to honor a US request for copies of all European Bank Transactions made a few small waves in the news but seems not to have elicited the conversation that is truly necessary. (Source:)
The US has had access to the requested SWIFT data since 2001 but now that SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial) has moved all of their serves outside the U.S. the access is no longer guaranteed. Of course if SWIFT had not moved their servers the issue would be immaterial. So, why did they move them?
“The existence of the US server allowed American authorities to use American anti-terror laws to access European transaction data. EU law would have barred such access had the servers been on European soil.” (Source)

In other words, because of a server being in the U.S., it was routine for the U.S to inspect the banking transactions of European citizens. So if a Danish mother wired money to her daughter studying in Madrid, Spain this was vitally important for the U.S. Government to know. Why? The argument of course is anti-terrorism efforts, that tracking money movements lead authorities to terrorists. Now please understand, until the server migration, this kind of European money transfer tracking had been going on for more than seven years. However, when trying to find evidence of its effectiveness I got nothing. I have been able to find zero reports of finding terrorists via European money transfers since the monitoring of SWIFT transactions was implemented (in secret of course) in 2001.
[Note: Many financial tracking advocates use the Sauerland Group, a thwarted terror cell in Germany as proof that tracking financials works. However, it is known that NSA surveillance of emails from Germany to Pakistan were what prompted diligent observation (to eventually include financials) which in turn led to a successful raid of the group and the arrest of its members. In short, tracking financials did NOT break or even make this case. (Source)]

In light of the EU parliament decision, the discussion to be had then is not about Europe or the new EU Parliament flexing muscles, but about the U.S. and its seeming addiction to information. Since 2001 U.S. domestic (and international) surveillance has mushroomed, from the warrantless wireless wiretapping programs enacted under the Bush administration, to the NSA installing the NarusInsight supercomputer(s) on the AT&T Internet backbone in San Fancisco (and other cities) enabling the real time monitoring of millions of pieces of internet traffic simultaneously. (Source) These kinds of data collection transcend politics as President Obama on more than one occasion has elected to keep these tools and advocated honoring the revised FISA law granting anonymity and retro-active immunity for telecommunications companies which provided domestic telephone and email/chat logs to the FBI and CIA.

Therefore, the U.S. SWIFT request, that blanket monitoring on Non-U.S bank transactions continue unabated, is merely a request to preserve the status quo; the continued collection of mountains of information on citizens of other countries for little or no gain. There should be an obvious question here: After more than seven years of this domestic and international information gathering, what are the results? Is there any kind of justification for continuing to do it? In the absence of any easily found confirmation, does it even work?

I began contemplating, compiling and writing this article before the tragic and senseless actions of an unstable and cowardly man who intentionally flew his private plane into an IRS building in Texas. (Source). I would much rather have posted it as an abstract thought exercise as was my original intention. However the events in Texas made the abstract concrete. The particulars of Andrew Stack’s professional life are particularly germane because they cover both issues I have raised above; scrutiny of financial records and surveillance of internet traffic.
Andrew Stack, the perpetrator, was well known to the IRS and had his financials scrutinized diligently and repeatedly due to a spotty tax record. In addition Stack not only was the president of a computer software company but he also repeatedly composed his ‘suicide note’ online and posted it eight hours in advance of aerial his attack on the IRS building. (Source) What he posted is not vague or something misleading like a shopping list, it’s a rather specific 5 page screed that states more than once that he will be committing violent suicide in defense of freedom and to help wake people up. He rails against the US government and uses inflammatory and extreme anti-US rhetoric throughout. He even cites the FAA towards the end of the letter, surely a solid hint that his FAA registered plane might be part of his plan. (Source)

Please consider that all relevant information pertaining to Stack was domestic and thus easily available for authorities in advance under current anti-terror laws. The Narus machines are still operating, sorting internet traffic for suspicious or violently anti-US rhetoric (such as Stack’s letter?) and US financial transactions continue to be scrutinized daily and the IRS confirmed that they were well aware of Andrew Stack. Given these, plus emerging details of Stack’s increasingly erratic behavior (causing his wife and child to flee the family home) and his obvious crafting and re-crafting his last words on an internet site then posting it well in advance of his final flight, why was the attack not foiled?
There are undoubtedly as many answers to this question as there are fish in the sea. However the most obvious answer may be the closest to the truth. Information is itself, insufficient, information must be understood. Simply vacuuming up data as the U.S has been and continues to do is ineffective. It has been more than seven years since these sweeping information gathering programs have been enacted. Results are minimal and cases like Andrew Stack clearly demonstrate that these methods are ineffective. Addiction to information is like any addiction, destructive and short-sighted. I recommend the exploration of alternatives.