July 11, 2013: 5:00am (Nice and Quiet)

I couldn't sleep so I wanted to tell you about an article I read. This is from the Sept. 27, 2010 edition of Forbes magazine. I'm sure you can read this same story online if you want to. This is a magazine article written by Andy Greenberg. There is a company "American Science & Engineering", they are based in Sillerica, Massachusetts. This company makes x-ray machines. But not for doctors or dentists. They make them for the government. But the catch is that these machines are inside of small trucks designed as other types of vehicles (newspaper delivery truck, bread delivery trucks, wehicles like that. AS&E has also stated that our own government has been using them domestically. The company calls them "Z Backscatter vans or ZBV's" and each ZBV costs American tax payers $850,000 each. As of this article, President Obama has authorised the purchase of 89 of these x-ray vans. Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) stated: "it's no surprise that governments and vendors are very enthusiastic about the vans but from a privacy perspective it is one of the most intrusive technologies conceivable." These vans are the mobile version of the x-ray scanner machines that are in our airports. The company will not reveal exactly which law enforcement agencies within the department of homeland security or any of the foreign governments have purchased this new technology. The company has stated that they have sold their vans to governments on every major continent except for Antarctica. An argument was made that the x-ray scanners in airports do not save images of the people who are x-rayed but AS&E says that their vans can save and store images for evidential purposes. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states that they will not comment on which agencies use this technology but the New York Police Department has confirmed that they do use the technology. TO anyone interested or intrigued, please feel free to google the vans or the company who makes them. They do say the vans are used to x-ray cargo containers for ships and cargo that enter this country. Now that's fine for security purposes but what else are they being used for? I have learned over the years that politicians are not honest and neither is the government. In the USA Today newspaper they published a fact checker article. During President Obama's election campaign he made over 500 promises to the American people. During his first year in office he kept less than 10 of those promises, ignored hundreds of others and changed his mind on dozens of others. My point is that he is just like all politicians, they all tell us what we want to hear in order to be elected. That's lying. I have a problem with being lied to by the people who are supposed to protect us and have our best interests at heart. This whole spying thing that was recently brought to light by Snowden, the things our government does, things that we don't think they would ever do, but they do and it is all disguised as "we are protecting against terrorists". There are many pros and cons and arguments can be made for either side of this discussion about the vans but it's kind of creepy to know our government has people driving around x-raying houses and buildings. I wouldn't begin to know how to argue this from a legal privacy standpoint but what I do know is that I would rather have these vans stay at the borders, the harbours and airports. But are we really sacrificing our privacy for the possibility of a terror strike? If we allow the government to do this, what we will allow next, in the name of protecting us from terrorists? How far will governments go if no one says enough is enough? Our country is notorious for wasting money. We have armed rebels in many countries, given them hundreds of millions of US dollars to use to fund their rebel wars. We are currently giving billions of US tax payer dollars to Egypt. Why? I would love to see and read Obama's foreign aid policies. And it's definitely not just Obama, every president since my birth. But Obama gives away more money than any other president ever has in his foreign aid policy. I just cannot contemplate why? Anything? If it's such a good deal then why not tell the US tax payers why their money is being sent to dozens of countries. The government has too much power and they are entirely too secretive. over the weekend I want to write about solitary confinement (RHU - Restricted Housing Unit). 30,000 prisoners in California are on a hunger strike over the solitary confinement right now. So I want to enlighten everyone on what it is, what it was designed for and how it breaks your spirit and your mind if left there too long. So be sure to check out my next post, "solitary confinement". If I'm ever worng about something I write, I would appreciate it if I was corrected. I am not a liar and I do not like to be misled about anything so if I messed up, please feel free to correct me and help me learn. Thanks. Take care, God bless, and be sure to read my next post. Ciao.