Nelson Mandela died at age 95. Somehow he managed to live a long life. I will remember him as a man who tried to make good changes for people in a peaceful way no matter what his opponents threw at him. Anyone with that kind of patience should always be remembered for being different and taking on problems in the most civilized way; peacefully.  We must still be aware that people still suffer much and we are now more than ever are being watched by others in all that we do in life.

Do you like that the government is spying on the citizens?  Is it protection or is it a gross invasion of our privacy?  The argument for any kind of surveillance  technology is that it will make us safer. So, we buy the cameras and we support the taxpayer money that now puts cameras on every street corner in America and the satellites that can zoom down on your homes from space.  Are we sure that is what we want?  Nelson just wanted to walk freely in his country and instead spent almost one third of his life in prison for asking for that right.

Right now the Federal Government is installing cameras in safe communities where there are already low crime rates. Why?  Is the law abiding citizen also being watched? Definitely! If we are not careful, we can possibly loose our Constitutionally protected rights.  There is a new program being proposed to cut down illegal’s from entering our borders through Mexico and Canada.  They want to institute a RF Identification tag which is radio frequency, installed into your drivers licenses.  

There used to be only 2 national security branches in government. The FBI and the CIA. Now there are 17 including anti terrorism  agencies.  Our invasion of privacy begins where technology and terrorism collides.  There are specially designed rifles that can shoot a magnetic plug onto your car and listen to your conversations there. Sure, we all love a good James Bond movie but we don’t want to be the victim in the movie ever. 

The RF identification tags are devices that is a tiny micro-chip hooked up to an antenna pressed between the layers of plastic .  The idea is that it is an alternative to passports.  As you drive up to the border, at the customs station 30 or 50 feet away, officials can actually read your drivers license from that distance in your pocket.  The agent in the booth can pull up your picture on his computer and identify you as you approach the booth.  They say it is just to be able to get you through faster.  I say it is an invasion of more privacy not just to save 15 seconds of time at a border station.  

 and in the hands of the wrong people steal your identity and your credit card numbers.  The potential for abuse is great and we won’t even know that the stuff in our pockets is being easily  read by someone we don’t even know. IBM has a Patent for something called The Person Tracking  Unit.  They actually have a plan to put a unit in every bathroom, elevator, sports arena and   shopping mall; pretty much everywhere people go,

IBM’s  plan is that they would use this to literally track you for marketing purposes and hand information  off to law enforcement.  So, the fictional book 1984 by George Orwell  was nothing compared to this. At least the society described as the future since the book was written in the thirties, you could get away from the scrutiny.  We can not run anywhere away from this.  We are heading towards a world where a chip will even be implanted in our bodies  like what they are doing already to track wildlife and our pets.

After 911 we were given the Patriot Act which is a law passed by Congress that in essence gives the government the freedom to do things that they never were able to do to us before.  Before, if they wanted to enter your home, they had to go to a judge, show probable cause and get a search warrant.  Well, the Patriot Act throws all that out and now they can just go into your home and have their way with you.  No reason given.  Now we are guilty and must prove our innocence later.  Yes, a complete reversal to our basic rights. Now we all can  identify with the struggles Nelson had to face.

Nelson was thrown out of places just because of the color of his skin. In fact there were entertainers that sang and played at the memorial services for him in South Africa today who were invited to perform at whites only arenas.  They chose to give up that pay day and sing for free for Mandela.  I am all for the best protection for us but not for giving up our freedom.  Rest in Peace now Nelson Mandela you are free from the bigots of this world now.