New page to be released on Thursday. I’m contemplating whether to make this the official update day instead of Monday. I’ll decide by next week. Until then, here is another sketch by Sean Stephens of Red.

Unfortunately, no new page until week. Here is a promotional sketch from my colleague Sean Stephens to help tie you over.

Due to site issues Thursday’s page is posted today (Friday). Enjoy.

My apologies. This week’s page will be posted this Thursday instead of today. In the meantime, enjoy this promotional piece which was illustrated by my colleague Sean Stephens.

Gets me in that cyberpunk mood.

Things that were absence during the recent State of the Union 2012.
The fact that the President signed the Indefinite detention bill which allows people to be detained without right to a trial.
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/president-obama-signs-indefinite-detention-bill-law

The resigning of the Patriot Act

The Unconstitutional Libya Action
http://current.com/community/93631782_us-deploys-12-000-troops-in-libya.htm

Why countries that were funded by the U.S. use child soldiers?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/27/AR2010102707157.html

How the real cause of the recession is the Federal Reserve and how he just reappointed Bernanke instead of investigating of the missing funds that disappeared in the bailouts. Trillions of our money missing, The dollar continues to devalue. No Obama investigation, only Alan Grayson and Ron Paul bothered to do anything

From the makers of indefinte detention of citizens via the NDAA, the reauthorization of civil liberties violating Patriot Act, and the TSA comes the latest government measure designed to “keep Americans safe.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/business/online-id-verification-plan-carries-risks.html

Definition from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/doublespeak.html”

“Intentionally deceiving language. Not an outright lie or a tactful euphemism, but systematic use of ambiguous, evasive words and sentence structures to say one thing but mean something else. Commonly associated with bureaucracy, military, and politics, it is often practiced in commerce also as a calculated attempt to (1) avoid or shift responsibility, (2) distort reality by making the bad, negative, or unpleasant look good, positive, or pleasant, and vice versa, and (3) confuse by using unfamiliar or concocted jargon. See collateral damage as an example. Also called doubletalk or doublethink.”

A perfect example of doublespeak would be the recent comments made by 2012 Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. Huntsman says if he were President of the United States, he would have signed the National Defense Authorization Act. This bill, which was passed in both houses of the United States Congress (and signed into law by President Obama on New Years Eve), has a provision that allows American citizens to be detained in prison indefinitely without a trial. You can read my short blog entry about it here http://areazeroworld.com/red/2011/12/21/the-national-defense-authorization-act-is-an-assualt-on-every-americans-freedoms/

In this video below, Jon says he would work to protect “habeas corpus” and “due process” in practice, even though the bill he would sign eliminates those very things. If he truly cared about protecting the rights of Americans he would have stood up and said no. Instead it’s just another example of a slick talking politician who even in a fictional scenario, can’t find the courage to stand up for human rights.

It’s looks good. I think Nolan made the best movie of last year with Inception and looks to be applying that same kind of technical skill with this film (The special effect with the football field is really well done). Really solid stuff.

Also, interesting is the scene when Anne Hathaway a.k.a. Catwoman’s talks about Bruce Wayne “living so large” and “leaving so little for the rest of us.” The concept of wealth inequality, has become even more highlighted especially with the arrival of the Occupy Wall Street movement with their 99 percent/1% slogans that has since become a popular catchphrase.

This Occupy influence was also alluded to in activist/journalist Luke Rudkowski’s interview with Dark Knight Rises star Joseph Gordon Levitt after his visit to Zuccotti Park. It will be interesting to see how this social commentary will play out. Catwoman is a villain (although she is represented as a hero at times.) Will the Occupy folk like it? Will they hate it? Only, time will tell.

No matter what side of the political spectrum one may fall on, I personally feel that this story should be the number one issue in the United States. The War on Terror has been the excuse for U.S. congress to pass all kinds of bills which violate American’s basic human rights. For example everyone is aware of the Patriot Act with it’s warrantless wiretapping provision. Now the U.S Congress and Senate have taken things ten steps further with the National Defense Authorization Act. This bill, which was passed in both houses of Congress, has a provision that allows American citizens to be detained in prison indefinitely without a trial.

Common sense would dictate that this is a power that no government should have (much less one one’s whose leaders in congress have the lowest approval ratings in the history of the country.) However, we live in a panic atmosphere were people are ready to sacrifice freedom for security, and what passes for news is no more informative than an episode of TMZ (No offense to the people at TMZ.) One youtube search for the term NDAA and the first page that pops up are all alternative media sources (kudos to these fine individuals by the way).

Where are CNN and Fox News? Shouldn’t this bill be the number one story in the country right now? Is the rounding up of U.S. citizens without due process (a.k.a. kidnapping) such a low priority in the news cycle? Maybe the mainstream media feels that since it received a majority bi-partisan vote in the affirmative, every American is essentially satisfied and this is a non issue. Unfortunately, it will be a dead issue unless the American people bring this issue out of the darkness and into the light.