Spies @ MindSay 
If not, then consider this a promise if it ever happens again.
I think I just get paranoid when people without blog posts suddenly comment on my posts as the first thing they do when they sign up, as if the only reason they signed up was to view my blog. I can't be that paranoid?
Today was the first day of 'Super Saturday', a series of 5 Saturday mornings where kids from K-8 sign up for enrichment classes in the area and learn all sorts of cool things, like cooking, robotics, bridge building, chess, foreign languages, calligraphy, cryptography and so on. I teach the bridge building and cryptography classes. For those who don't know what cryptography is, it is not the art of tagging graves with graffitti. (Hah.) It is the science of secret writings. Codes. Ciphers. Encryption. That sort of thing, but this is for kids. They eat it up.
Every once in awhile I get someone in my classes that is either hyper-energetic (not to be confused with hypoallergenic) or who knows a lot about the subject matter and is very eager to share. I have a young boy in my cryptography clas that is very knowledgable in some of the basic codes, and while he does not come off as a know-it-all, the rest of the class is feeling the weight of his prior knowledge.
I've already warned him not to 'steal the teacher's thunder', and he understood what it meant, but the request was quickly lost as we went through some of the basic codes. He'll be a handful this time around. I almost can't wait to show him something that he doesn't know, just so that he'll be quiet and learn about it. I think I may have impressed him that I know more about his world than he knows about mine. While he was waiting for the rest of the class to finish an assignment, he started doodling. And he drew a rather detailed spaceship that looked familiar.
So I looked at it, and commented, "Someone's been watching 'Star Wars: Clone Wars', haven't they?"
He looked up at me and said, 'How do you know about that?'
Then I took his shaken-up mind and gave it a drop kick. "That's the Malevolence that you just drew, isn't it?"
"How do you know this??" he said, amazed.
Score. 
Also in this class, I had my first ever emotional breakdown! It was heartbreaking on its own. The young boy couldn't grasp the concept, which was my fault for not explaining it properly. But once we got the idea down, he was good to go. So many young sponges.
This time was also the first time I had a class in my 'advanced' cryptography class. That was fun, trying to shake the cobwebs loose from kids that had already taken the 'beginner' class. That might be a way to repackage the classes, come to think of it. Anyway, one of them has a 'secret spy book' that shows all sorts of ways to be a spy and use code tools, gadgets, codes, etc. Last year he was the one who stole the show for a bit, until we got to a point where I showed them all some things that weren't in the book. It was fun to watch him start to learn something new, and see the class' reaction that hey, the book isn't going to be all the spoilers that they thought! And whoa, this code is wild! This same boy is now in the advanced class, and he brought his book. Too bad there's nothing in the book that I'm going to teach them! LOL
Also for the first time, I have more girls than boys in bridge building. That, I think, is awesome. It's almost a 2:1 ratio. Future mechanical and civil engineers! And they learn just as fast, if not faster, than some of the boys. So phooey to anyone who thinks girls can't pick up engineering!
Lotsa firsts.
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On a side note, ever cry at a cartoon or animated feature? 'Bambi' counts.
But have you done it recently? I did, watching a death scene in the anime Naruto.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
That's what I love about anime. They don't sugarcoat the scenes. Characters die. Sometimes violently. And they don't come back. Characters fall in love, or discover something about themselves as they grow older. And they age too. At least, in some of the better-written animes. Yeah, there will always be anime that is kid-friendly and sweet and doesn't touch on some of the more adolescent or adult themes (and I'm not talking about sex, though you can get that too if you're so inclined), but there are also the ones out there that do have those themes. That's what makes them more 'real', and that's why I like anime. Naruto seems to be filling the void now like that.
The other day (Saturday) a little old lady knocked on my front door. I answered of course, how dangerous could she be? She produced a large clip-board and said:
"Hello, I'm from the Electoral Roll Office, we're just checking to see who lives here. We only have one peron by the name of x.xxxxx registered here, is that right?"
Well colour me 'fucking stupid'. How insidious is that !!?? So I just said: "Yup" (a lie) and she left. The point is that in this country the Bureau of Statistics has the right by law to ask you any questions they want to and the Electoral Roll Office has the right to ask for the registration details of any person at your home.
I don't vote, because it's compulsory and I object to being told by the government what I can and can't do. I also object to them knowing my details as I want my privacy. I haven't been on the electoral roll for some time and I don't fill in the census form. The government will tell you that they keep all your details confidential and that if you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't need to keep details from them. I believe this is the very same logic the Nazis used in the 1930s.
I have nothing to hide, I just don't want to share. I'm not a sharing person and I don't trust the government of today or, more importantly tomorrow to keep my details private.
We in Oz still live under the "convict mentality" that the government must give us permission to do things and that we must ask permission to be allowed to do things. We still feel that the government is our 'Boss' and that we should obey when we're told to. The government uses the Bureau of Statistics (in the form of the census) and the Electoral Roll Office (you must be registered to vote if you're over 18) to gather information about you and to keep track of you. By the way, if you refuse to give them information or you don't enroll to vote (and keep your details current) you are liable to be fined OR IMPRISIONED at the discretion of the judge at your hearing.
It's time we demanded some freedom and some privacy! Stand up for yourselves you lazy bastards - Revolt!!! SAY NO! Demand that the government works to ensure and support your freedom and your privacy, make them work for you!
No doubt the federales could, if they chose track me down via my IP address and pursue legal action for my terribly revolutionary views and actions. I wonder if they will. Stay tuned for "My Life - Under Guard"
,{:-)
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Date Line March 16, 2007
Time for some serious stuff. In the outing of a CIA agent, the Republican Party, as embodied in the Right-wing Bush administration has proved itself an enemy of the nation.
A solid point was made by the agent in question - if the nation cannot protect the identity of its own agents, how can we expect foreign agents to believe we could protect them?
This nation needs foreign assets - informants and officials - who are willing to assist us in the acquisition of reliable intelligence.
Without such assets, it is impossible for any intelligence agency to perform the most delicate, and important, aspects of its role - the discovery of what is being planned, what is in the heads of those who would do us harm.
How antagonistic are Republicans to our interests? We know, and the Iraqis know.
We were told the Iraqis would welcome our invasion - some did. If you look you will see that we rely upon native Iraqis to translate for us and to act as both our guides, and eyes, on the ground.
How did we treat those who welcomed us? When their families were attacked - suffered retaliation from insurgent forces - America turned its back.
Have we granted blanket sanctuary to these allies? Certainly it is not a factor in the Republican agenda - and the Democrats are woefully silent.
Did the Democrats impeach this president for his lies and dishonesty? Nope! They have played politics - the politics of letting him take the blame for what they approve of.
If they not approve, Bush-Cheney would be gone.
If America did not approve, Bush-Cheney would not be serving their second term.
The world understands - even if our media and citizens refuse to. It is self-evident that America cannot be trusted. Foreign powers, foreign agents, our own agents, cannot trust in this government. Worse than that, our wounded troops cannot not trust their government to provide for them and their families.
And, of course, the average citizen cannot trust the government to provide for them - to provide basic medical care for their children; or meet the basic educational needs to allow those children, who survive, to become productive economic engines.
This president, this administration, this government, the United States of America, has offered to Latin America more that it is willing to grant its own people. Read Bush's speeches and learn.
Republicans talk "free markets", and "free trade". What are these but the hiring of others to do the work we should be doing, and selling, to them?
We are a nation in trouble. We consume, but do not produce. We attack, but do not talk. We "burn" those who seek to serve our interests - and reward those who would destroy us.
How long do you believe this can continue?
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Consider the reality of the past few days. Eight Justice Department attorneys were apparently fired for political reasons – the most egregious of which was their failure, or refusal, to utilize the power of their positions to tamper with Federal election process and election results.
In America, the Republicans have declared an end to democracy, and the beginning of the corruption which marks all dictatorships.
On another front, the spy front mentioned above, CIA operative, Valerie Plame, has stated:
1. “It was a terrible irony that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover."
2. "If our government cannot even protect my identity, future foreign agents who might consider working with the Central Intelligence Agency and providing needed intelligence would think twice.”
3. "My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior officials in the White House and State Department," Plame testified. "I could no longer perform the work for which I had been highly trained."
Unmentioned – thus far – is the fact she is the wife of a diplomat. We all know that diplomatic cover is normal for espionage operations. But will anyone point out that ALL our legitimate diplomats are, henceforth, classified as spies – or the spouse of spies.
Republicans love war and threats of war. Republicans love to lie, cheat, and defraud – they are especially adapt at doing it to Americans.
Bush has made it clear, the Republican way of doing things does not include talk, discussion, negotiation – or even considerations of reality. Bush burned our agent to give cover to the lies he was using to justify destabilizing Iraq and sending our children to their death.
The body could – the murders attributable to Bush, the Republicans, the Evangelical Christians and all others who backed the invasion of Iraq is fast moving toward levels associated with normal Nazi practices and policies. Rather than kill Jews and Gypsies, Bush et al are killing Islamic peoples.
What is interesting he is doing it with the full aid and assistance of the Sunni – the same sect whose membership attacked and destroyed the World Trade Center, and blew a hole in the Pentagon. Look for matters to get worse – as Hilary takes up the sword as part of her own political agenda.
Now reread the earlier post which appears below.
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