Provoking Revolution While Rapidly Ramping up the Internal Security Apparatus.

I have a collection of National Geographic magazines that date back to the late 1950s. Sometimes it's interesting to go back and read old articles to see how far we've come, or, in some cases, how much we've apparently stagnated.  For instance, in the case of "remote sensing", which basically means gathering information about things from enormous distances made possible by radiant energy traveling in visible and invisible wavelengths. What I mean is, that gauging from the 1969 article, "Remote Sensing: New Eyes to See the World" [National Geographic Jan.1969: 46-73] which explains the revolutionary technology at the time regarding the development of surveillance--hot and cold-war reconnaissance--that enables a far greater ability to probe the mysteries of the world, from what they're telling us, our capabilities have not progressed all that much in four decades. 

This is especially apparent in the unexplained fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, where the plane supposedly vanished from radar screens on March 8 with 239 people aboard. One would think, considering the exponentially growing security and defense surveillance industry, that we would've surpassed the satellite and radar technology available in the late 1960s. That by 2014, it would be impossible for a huge state of the art Boeing 777-200 to disappear from the face of the earth.

They tell us, at present, only 10% of the Earth's surface has radar infrastructure, leaving huge gaps in coverage in places like certain regions of Australia, deserts or oceans.

I mean, it's no secret that the technology we see in use today is decades behind what has actually been developed behind closed doors.  And I suspect even less is disclosed to the general public today than it was back then.  You know, the progressive dumbing down of America. What you don't know can hurt you.

Which makes the fact that police are employing Predator drone spy planes on the home front even scarier. What's more, these killer drones were launched to track down cow thieves.  Really?  Couldn't they have waited for something a little more dreadful sounding than the mystery of six missing cows? It sounds like a job for Nancy Drew, not predator drones, capable of the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians.

There is no doubt that our current administration is overly concerned about "homegrown terrorism" as it continuously ramps up ways to fight it.  But at the same time, it's heavy handed wars on everything from drugs to terror to crime is exactly what's creating more terrorists, here and abroad.  Not to mention, the definition of a terrorist gets broader everyday.

Consider for a moment, Fox News telling its listeners to educate themselves on whom their real enemies are: the political elites inside the beltway. Of course, that's true; however, when Fox News, an establishment mouthpiece of the first order, is dispensing this kind of advice, you've got to question the motive. Are they fueling the fire? If so, why?



* Weaver, Kenneth F. "Remote Sensing, New Eyes to See the World." National Geographic Jan.1969: 46-73.Print.

Links:

CIA Drones Kill Large Numbers of People Without Knowing Who They Are

Obama administration wants school teachers to snoop on their kids?