WAIT! there's a sign-post up ahead, you're crossing into the TWILIGHT OF DEMOCRACY ZONE!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

In modern media, as lies turn into truth and fiction replaces fact, a recently netted domestic terrorist is said to have posted the phrase, "How about creating a new sci-fi anthology with none of the puerile baggage of Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry, Rockne O' Bannon, etc., etc. It is time to end their reign of Left-wing innuendo, their anti-American, anti-mankind cynicism and fatalism" right next door in Freeperville according to this DU posting earlier today: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

I've always admired the work of Rod Serling and I feel sure he would appreciate this little foray into his genius. Both in his incredibly foolish actions and his online request, that freeper-guy was certainly asking for trouble and it is written, "ask and ye shall receive:"

ENJOY A LITTLE DIVERSION INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight of Democracy Zone.

"Picture if you will, a once open, free and informative online experience, now relegated into dismal realms of deafening control by dim-minds that stalk expansive-thinkers, as they seek to destroy not only free-thought but also the cornerstone of democracy, free-speech. Witness Mr. John Q. Public, a charter member in a fraternity of dreamers. A mere ghost of the man that took an oath in the military so long-ago to defend the Constitution. His passion is the written word but he is conspired against by a presidential minions, a world full of mouse-clickers and the unrelenting ticking away of time. But in just a moment Mr. Public will enter a world without warrantless eavesdropping or online communities or clocks or anything else. He will have a world all to himself without anyone in the Twilight of Democracy Zone."

John Public can never find the time to send emails to Congress or take ANY action on net-neutrality. He enjoys the internet at home and work but thinks petitions are a waste of time. At one point his government, as a cruel joke, takes actions that induce John to use the internet as a research tool. In bygone days, the internet was an unrivaled aid in gathering reliable information. He is very pleased to aid a free-society by furnishing reliable information; however, when he opens the first web-page he finds all the information altered and many other pages will not even open. Somehow, semi-elected fools in power have systematically translated an illegal occupation of another country, which is based on lies, into a "war of ideas." Now, not only Mr. Public but also ANYONE with dissenting ideas on war or government become enemies of the state, without rights or scrutiny from wise judges who once closely monitored police activity, in an effort to protect civil liberty.

The following day, John takes to the web in an effort to find dramatic graphics to present before an online community that shares many of his political views. He knows that television imagery helped end a similar war in his youth. While Mr. Public seems as typical as the online community, both entities have certain characteristics that set them apart from the mundane. The online community is one of the first to speak out against oppressive government and that distinction draws multitudes of readers on certain days. Although this ghost of a veteran rarely expresses real writing talent and appears quite ordinary, he too indulges in certain practices that set him apart. In seeking only the finest imagery for readers, Mr. Public often unwittingly stumbles into sites that are not exactly USDA approved. But it is a free country, right? We live in a land where we can read ANYTHING we choose, if only those odd swirly letters made sense, right?

Is there an off-chance that duly appointed law-enforcement agents might play partisan politics just before a national election, if they knew there was little oversight and victims would have a hard time proving any online interference ever took place? In fact, there is a distinct possibility that newly formed secret policing organizations closely monitor sites that freely offer certain imagery, in an ever-spinning world where facts turn topsy-turvy, as fiction becomes a finer version of truth. While quite logical, no actual proof supports even a vague assumption that groups like the NSA or Homeland Security bother monitoring such sites, much less tracking or interfering with people who copy the images, so far be it from this ghost writer to suggest such tawdry and typical tin-foil tripe is reality or ever takes place.

Since reality sometimes seems so spooky, let us sojourn back into the safety of sci-fi fantasy, after a brief commercial interruption.

NOW, NEW AND IMPROVED, we offer a ghost of a media professional who knows exactly what is safe and lawful to present in public forum. Certainly, such a mundane man would never venture into dark realms of copy, which are and always were illegal for very good reasons. After all, Lesson One in free speech requires us to avoid screaming "FIRE" in a crowded theater. With rights comes responsibility; right Skinner? No matter how we feel about current leaders, certain comments are strictly forbidden and taboo because writing such a remark damages our communal efforts and opens up anyone foolish enough to present threatening copy to serious legal consequences. Even so, I will be the first to admit that on certain days I dance close to the edge of oblivion. Whether drunk on passion or other indulgences, there were days that if caring members of a certain online community had not made comments to steer me from disaster, not only laws but also a link to presenting ideas to readers I respect would now lay like shattered shards of a mirror into my soul. By the way, where is NEIL LISST? has anyone seen that brilliant political cartoonist? I was hoping to celebrate our recent political milestone with him, here at DU.

Thanks for taking time to hear from sponsors: Now we can retire to the safety and fun of frivolous fiction.

Picture if you will, a time when fear translates into anger, as logic screams out from those higher mental realms that such flagrant oppression of ideas can not happen to law-abiding citizens in America, no matter how slow high-speed on a new computer becomes. And then upon that night so dreary, said John Public feeling weary, "Tis only cable-carrier, nothing more." When he called the cable company they said "it all looks great from here," nothing more. So this very typical individual decided to run some simple tests, only to find that many online sites consistently opened with the same lightning-like speed he was accustomed to, while others, most especially the Democratic Underground, Air America and the Democratic National website generally timed out several times before finally connecting. Again and again, as the browser failed to find places that were never tricky to open in the past. John watched his browser open Freeper-like sites in another window with amazing speed, while his favorite online places failed to connect. It was like two windows racing to see what either unseen powers or a very willful browser favors in each test. Even his photobucket began failing to open, as did all the imagery links at google, so no more antiwar "lyrics w/ heavy graphics" were possible right before elections. In the real world, tests like this are ludicrous and offer no proof. In the real world, only a fool or idiotic idealist, like John Public would expect a reader to take his word that such things might occur but in the Twilight of Democracy Zone things like that will occur on many computers very soon.

Certainly, only the most foolish of idealist, would dare to continue posting, as even a spell-check site-link also began timing out. Instead of cowering in fear, the ghostly poster surprisingly began to lash out at oppressive practices with renewed zeal. Sadly, Mr. Public, again failed to respond in a typical manner. He went to his long-held email server, only to find it in tatters. How very odd, thought John. In all the years of using email, he was witnessing a first. No email server had EVER scrambled the dates of his unopened email at all and now his messages were flung about like a burglar had ransacked his account. He was using the same name and Hot-mail account from early days of the internet. Now, emails from months ago sat at the top of his page, while fresh email messages did not appear at all for a time and then, later, appeared in the middle of the page under older messages. To this very day, that phenomenon exists on his computer. He holds onto the email garble, as if it is a trophy or other shiny souvenir of accomplishment and shares it with friends for a laugh.

Perhaps it was his lashing out at those dedicated to destroying a free exchange of ideas that caused John so many problems. Upon seeing the email mess, he wrote himself an email with a subject line that said "PROJECT X." In the email Mr. Public sternly put forth the notion that whoever might hamper communications, while ignoring freedoms guaranteed to all Americans in the Bill of Rights are little more than Nazis who are destroying values that many fine Americans are dying to defend. He closed the message saying, "I hope you are proud of depriving your children and mine of the very principals that make America great," or some such silly nonsense. Anyhow, just in case they missed it in email, he posted it at DU and got enough votes to put the OP on the Greatest Page. Surely thought he, they will see it there.

While it might seem like a happy ending to some, this saga is as persistent as a soap-opera. Mr. Public got mad. He decided to make closer contact with members, who seemed like people he could trust, in a certain online community. A few gave him their phone numbers in private message. As he attempted to call the first online friend a message popped up on his screen that his browser was automatically updating, so he stopped the process, since he uses Vonage, which connects by internet, for telephone calls and finds the service exquisite. He did not want to visit problems on loyal old friends at the site, just in case the "update" was not coincidental. In a PM to another old friend, who others in the community said in PM was a troll, he did rant at the NSA and "Fatherland Insecurity" but they likely did not ever see that message. Afterward John let his browser update. If it might help someone eavesdrop on phone-calls without a warrant, he certainly wanted them to hear the ones he intended to make the next morning. He called an old girl-friend who practiced non-profit law first to tell her of all his recent online fun. Then he called the American Civil Liberties Union but oddly the phone rang and then went into a busy signal. It was busy in a more traditional way on the next attempt but there was no reason to block a recorded message and on the third try the ACLU recording came ringing through the ear-piece like a Liberty Bell. The third phone call of the morning was to a coordinator of the local Democratic Party but his office was closed for half of the day. He dropped by later and had a very interesting conversation with his old acquaintance.

Perhaps the most incredible event of all occurred after the phone calls but before the visit to his friendly neighborhood Democratic lawyer. During the phone calls and in some places online John had pointed out that although the Bill of Rights is gutted, there are still laws keeping law enforcement groups from using their positions to play partisan politics. In an odd coincidence John Q. Public's computer radically improved. He had done nothing to cause such dramatic improvement. He never even defragged or ran basic programs like ad-aware at that time. On the night after elections there were many to thank and congratulate both online and in person. He was glad things had magically gone back to near-normal without him doing a single thing to repair or upgrade his browser. Surely it is all a coincidence, right?

Did you just read near-normal? It is not a typo. While ALL sites continue to load on his machine with speeds that rival any in the past, his high-grade fire-wall and virus protection software pops up a warning message that his browser is being repeatedly altered every time it opens. The message does not matter if he has recently upgraded or modified his Fire-Fox or Explorer browsers but he does not modify them every single time he uses those search tools.

In digging a little deeper, Mr. Public discovers that his browser was being directed to an IP address that ends in nsatv.org or nsant.org. He was able to nearly fix the problem and also all the new additions to his start-up menu but in going back just now to list the full IP address, he found that according to his security suite there is no record of these warnings at all. In fact, all warning messages as they first appeared have mysteriously vanished but a log did still exist:

2006-11-13T18:33:20-06:00,success,general,daemon,Policy file has been reloaded.
2006-11-13T18:33:20-06:00,info,dynamic rule,removed,0.0.0.0,255.255.255.255,0,65535,58581,58581,allow
2006-11-13T18:33:20-06:00,info,dynamic rule,added,127.0.0.1,127.0.0.1,0,65535,58581,58581,allow
2006-11-13T18:33:21-06:00,success,general,daemon,Policy file has been reloaded.
2006-11-13T18:33:21-06:00,info,dynamic rule,removed,0.0.0.0,255.255.255.255,0,65535,58581,58581,allow
2006-11-13T18:33:21-06:00,info,dynamic rule,added,127.0.0.1,127.0.0.1,0,65535,58581,58581,allow
2006-11-13T18:38:16-06:00,info,appl control,C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,138
2006-11-13T18:38:16-06:00,info,appl control,unknown,allow,receive,17,192.168.15.100,138
2006-11-13T18:38:16-06:00,info,appl control,C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:16-06:00,info,appl control,unknown,allow,receive,17,192.168.15.100,137
2006-11-13T18:38:17-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:17-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:21-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:22-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:25-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:25-06:00,info,appl control,unknown,allow,receive,17,192.168.15.100,137
2006-11-13T18:38:26-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:29-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137
2006-11-13T18:38:30-06:00,info,appl control,,allow,send,17,192.168.15.255,137

There was nothing this mundane man could do about blocking his browser from going straight to the odd new IP address, until this morning. Blocking a browser blocks most online activity. Even now, he sits wondering what 2006-11-13T18:38:16-06:00,info,appl control,unknown,allow,receive,17,192.168.15.100,137 means. All this makes little sense to a typical citizen like Mr. Public but he has not checked his email lately. Perhaps it too has returned to the real world. That first entry says, "2006-11-13T18:33:20-06:00,success,general,daemon,Policy file has been reloaded."

John knows little of computer dialog but he does realize that "daemon" often refers to email.

All of this is quite absurd in temperate well-lit zones of the real-world and must remain in shadowy semi-fictional realms of the Twilight of Democracy Zone.

Computer problems, which were totally isolated to online activity at sites that are left of center did not begin until one of his musical story-boards appeared on YOUTUBE as a movie. Of course, he realizes that the online phenomenon might ALL simply be coincidental or some worm-like trojan, so he brought in a local pro. He found nothing to support the conclusion.

The OP that immediately preceded these problems was almost like a shot heard around the world as many began emailing the story board and several other sites presented the movie that exactly mirrors it in imagery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78lHcrxGx94

Many called the work brilliant but I disagree. For those of you with the perseverance to read this far down, I offer a bit of insight into creating good copy. Sometimes the most mundane of writers achieves brilliance, even John Q. Public. You see, when he cries while writing copy or creating a story board to old lyrics, his tears shimmer through the words and others cry with him. In spite of grammatical and spelling mistakes, when anyone truly laughs out loud, the world laughs with them. It is not magic or brilliance. There is no secret to letting ourselves feel deeply while writing. Anyone who dares to venture to the emotional edge will convey their emotions to a reader. It is no different in other creative endeavorers. If a painter is in deep pain, it shines from his imagery for hundreds of years, right Mr, Van Gogh? We lesser composers feel his pain and know his secret. Even icy eyes melt a little if a painters pain is profound.

Closing narration:

"The best laid plans of mice and men and John Q. Public, the mundane man in the glasses who wants nothing but peace and freedom. John Public, now just a part of a smashed internet landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has deeded to himself. Mr. Public in the Twilight of Democracy Zone."

Just for fun try this search criteria in google: "they came for the jews" His last name was tricky to spell so I tried several other phrases that brought up a sea of sites with the quote in online searches earlier this year but the ever-changing sea can quickly evaporate. Why should you care about anything you have just read? Here is what my search eventually yielded:

"First they came for Socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.

While that version appears more often, this is a direct translation of his masterpiece poem:

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,...............When the Nazis came for the communists,
habe ich geschwiegen;..................................I remained silent;
ich war ja kein Kommunist..............................I was not a communist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,...........When they locked up the social democrats,
habe ich geschwiegen;...................................I remained silent;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.........................I was not a social democrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,..................When they came for the trade unionists,
habe ich nicht protestiert;.............................I did not speak out;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.......................I was not a trade unionist.

Als sie mich holten,.....................................When they came for me,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte....there was no one left to speak out.

Rev Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

[bridgit]

1. that's the spirit...

:bounce:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. thanks again bridgit! your a trooper! I'd like to take this oportunity to say this:...

Corporate controlled media can play the movie PATTON with that rousing pro-war speech, as much as they like. They can use repetition to tell us what Americans "love" or "hate" and perhaps even re-program a few of us. I don't need repetition to offer the truth. Truth shines through with a single exposure: NOT ONLY AMERICANS BUT MOST CULTURES HATE A BULLY! THE AVERAGE PERSON WILL JUMP TO THEIR DEFENSE, WHEN RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE ARE BEING BULLIED. IF i HAD DONE ANYTHING WRONG I WOULD BE HIDING, INSTEAD OF PUBLICIZING WHAT I PERCEIVE AS A DIRE THREAT TO YOUR PERSONAL FREEDOM. GOING PUBLIC IS A BULLY-LIKE ORGANIZATION'S WORST NIGHTMARE. OPPRESSION ONLY SUCCEEDS WHEN GOOD PEOPLE REMAIN SILENT! WILL YOU SPEAK OUT NOW WITH VOTE AND KICKS?