'the illusion of choice'

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2C2XnB/:19gXr_2+U:Q_0iCYX1/drinkify.org/

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/Aqnpdx/:1_WH!T@xE:Y_Ik0dmh/www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/13-simple-steps-to-get-you-through-a-rough-day/

The magic button — Make Everything OK

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/5CzdJo/:1_y-BhGlR:U_9.n8U2/twistedsifter.com/2011/12/top-50-pictures-of-the-day-for-2011/

http://weareallstarstuff.tumblr.com/

"In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time." What this essentially means is, as of this decision, American citizens do not fully own the rights to their own bodies.

Imagine being striped, against your will, in front of (probably) men you don't know, for any crime. I'm sure the American government has defended themselves against criticism by scare-mongering - manipulating statistics, generalising the events of one particular incident, or creating a 'devil' of some kind of minority group - then insisting that this is law is needed and will make life safer, making themselves the 'angel'. I'm also sure that the government has reassured its citizens that this new law will not be abused, as searches will only be carried out where 'necessary'.

However, the facts are that crime in the US is at a low, with, for example, murder rates having dropped by half in the last 20 years. Criminologists believe that this is not a blip, but a result of a number of changes that have reversed the high crime rates of the 1980's, despite the recent recession.

Because the pattern "transcends cities and US regions, we can safely say crime is down," says James Allen Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. "We are indeed a safer nation than 20 years ago."

Additionally, the sad, undeniable fact is that positions of power are abused. We need only to look around us to see from experience that this is true - the violation of prisoners described in the Abu Ghraib trails is one obvious example. But putting this fact to one side, I don't think listing statistics or discussing how likely or unlikely it is that a police officer will abuse this power is relevant. I think what is relevant is that they can. The system that controls our lives almost entirely has given them this power, and thereby the opportunity to abuse it. Below, Philip Zimbardo discusses his theory that it is in fact the systems in which we operate that turn people 'bad', not the people themselves.

If this is true, the system is really doing a great job in creating potential 'bad apple' police officers with this law.

So, if this extreme law isn't because of a crazy increase in crime, what's it for? Read...

http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/05/us-sexual-humiliation-political-control?fb_source=other_multiline&fb_action_types=news.reads

(All further quotes are taken from this article.)

Naomi Wolf, author of one of my favourite books 'The Beauty Myth', sites it as a way to control the masses via sexual humiliation and fear - I agree.

"Believe me: you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. History shows that the use of forced nudity by a state that is descending into fascism is powerfully effective in controlling and subduing populations."

The government of course knows that creating a law which takes away a nation's right to completely own their own bodies is the most frightening deterrent within the perimeters of what they can currently, realistically get away with. They know that being strip searched is so incredibly invasive, humiliating and potentially psychologically damaging.

Albert Florence, described having been told to "turn around. Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks." He said he felt humiliated: "It made me feel like less of a man."

A friend of mine has told me she remembers a drug raid of her family house when she was around 7 years old, and how the police had the right to search everyone and everything in the house at the time of the raid. Consequently she, as a child, was strip searched - this is something she has never, and will never forget. By no coincidence is she now involved with the 'Occupy' and 'Anonymous UK' movements.

Wolf brings to attention the correlation of the passing of this law with the recent pushes against the government by these formerly mentioned movements, along with the passing of two other laws...

"This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill", which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection. These criminalizations of being human follow, of course, the mini-uprising of the Occupy movement."

Putting two and two together leaves me with this disturbing conclusion - our governments are feeling the resistance of those who were out in the streets, demonstrating at their universities and camped at St. Pauls, and are fighting their fear by instilling within us, fear. It is no coincidence that this push against our governments' injustices has been closely followed by making such a frightening deterrent legal, along with laws that make arrests easier and protesting harder. It seems obvious to me that the police forces went many steps too far during the last big push, and that these new laws will be put into brutal practice during the next.

"Remember, you don't need to have done anything wrong to be arrested in America any longer. You can be arrested for walking your dog without a leash. The man who was forced to spread his buttocks was stopped for a driving infraction. I was told by an NYPD sergeant that "safety" issues allow the NYPD to make arrests at will. So nothing prevents thousands of Occupy protesters – if there will be any left after these laws start to bite – from being rounded up and stripped naked under intimidating conditions."

Besides that fact that this passing of law will most likely go unnoticed by the majority of Americans, my biggest worry is this overstepping of boundaries by officers. Now that the boundaries have been legally shuffled along even further into our territory of human rights, giving them even more power, where will the officers stop during the next inevitable protests?

Clearly a dangerous game of control is being played, and it seems we must play this game by waking up, becoming educated in what is happening, and being fearless in our refusal to accept what is forced upon us by the 1% - or lose.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1xZnnp/:195mWS9X.:XjA-UKKv/sky-today.com/10-weird-and-mysterious-places-on-earth/

'i'm in love with a bumble bee'