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Scenario: Boy meets girl They date briefly and then don't speak for a year They reconnect and date for 6 weeks. They break up and boy says increasingly threatening and disrespectful things to girl for 2 weeks until girl threatens to contact boys family and police. Girl 'blocks' boy Boy shows up 3 months later wanting to date again Girl declines and says that she is willing to be friends Boy is visably frusterated with girl but requests girl message him sometime Girl says she will do so in the distant future. Boy gives girl tight hug that doesn't end until she pulls back Boy leaves at 5pm Boy returns at 10pm and walks into girls house It happens that girl was walking toward door and boy is stunned when he opens door Boy steps back and girl slams/locks door Boy refuses to leave and demands girl comes outside Girl requests that he leave but does not call police as suggested by friend Boy stays outside girls house for 3 hours Boy returns two days later at 8am Knocks on door Girl asks who is at the door Boy gives fake name Girl recognizes boys voice and calls police Police tell boy to leave girl alone and not to return to her property Boy returns the next morning knocking on door demanding girl come outside Girl calls police and police have boy agree to a restriction of contact order requiring boy not to attempt to contact girl directly or indirectly One week later boy contacts girls friend requesting girl to contact him Friend reports boy to girl Girl reports boy to police Police decide to charge boy with harassment 5 months go by Girl receives email from defence lawyer and calls 3 times over the course of a week with one response at the end of the week in the form of a voicemail informing girl that lawyer is going on holiday 2 weeks later police officer knocks on girls door at 8am unannounced and tells girl that if she doesn't get in touch with lawyer the case will be dropped Girl leaves additional voicemail for lawyer informing lawyer of police officers warning Girl is contacted by lawyer a week later who claims that police have not given her the entire case file as justification for not having any idea about the timeline of events and evidence of harassment Lawyer asks girl if girls actions leading up to breakup justified boys harassment and refusal of girls request to not be contacted by boy Girl is shocked and appalled that lawyer would ask this question when girl requested boy leave her alone on numerous occasions and his disregard for girls freedom is the reason for concern Not to mention the harassment started months after the relationship ended Girl feels that lawyer does not understand why she feels vulnerable about having to confront boy directly if the justice system fails to protect her right to her property and self One week passes Boy is meant to go to court in 2 weeks Boy adds girl on Instagram Girl takes screen shot of notification Reports incident (though inclined out of initiative to protect her freedom she was also instructed by police to report any attempted contact) Girl has to wait 5 hours for police to come to her home to update file Considering that the boy is going to court and has been told multiple times by girl and others that he does not have the right to demand contact with her, his persistence indicates that the justice system is not solving the issue of the girl being harassed and having her freedom limited by living in varying degrees of fear What should the girl do?

I did it. I had the conversation for the first time in my life. ''Do you support the use of violence against me if I decide to disagree?'' After 3 hours, with a lot of distracting topics (who'd build the roads and such), to finally have him say ''Yes, I value your friendship more then my ideas of state''. Words cannot describe how uncomfortable that conversation was. A few times, I thought that this was it. This is where I will end this relationship. Damn. But it seems to have ended on a pillar of security. It was really uncomfortable and scary. But so worth it.

I'm excited to talk about a pair of open-source Apps which have recently become available on Google Play (Android Market): TextSecure for Private SMS/MMS. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms and RedPhone, for Secure Calls. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.redphone Both of these are by a company called Whisper Systems and are recommended by security experts (including this security intermediate) and are incredibly easy to use. Let's get these Apps on the phones of those we would communicate with! And BTW, if you have an iPhone: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531941/Even-worse-worst-nightmares-How-NSA-use-iPhone-spy-you.html

Time is our ultimate resource not money. Utilizing a system already in place to record our earnings we can tweak it to account for time rather than earnings. Currently, during your working years, earnings covered by Social Security are posted to your Social Security record and you earn credits based on those earnings. Using time as a measure of one's earnings over money can be an easy transition. Hours are already being recorded by most employers. Who then report those hours to the Social Security Administration (The SSA). The SSA currently measures the amount of earnings in credits to determine eligibility for social security. Therefore, little needs to change to effect implementation of a record keeping program for validating hours accomplished. Example of the model: People work (or study, community service, etc) and have their hours posted to their Social Security record. You earn credits for time worked. For illustration, let's say 20 hours of work = 1 credit. There can be several levels of benefits for the credits accumulated such as: Level 1 Benefit (2 credits) = Food Level 2 Benefit (3 credits) = Clothing Level 3 Benefit (5 credits) = healthcare Level 4 Benefit (10 credits) = car Level 5 Benefit (15 credits) = home Level 6 benefit (20 credits) = 1 additional credit Level 7 benefit (30 credits) = vacation We can add that missing work would subtract 1 credit for every x hours missed. There can be many variables that can be tweaked to make it a fair system. Bean counters would have a field day working this out. This wouldn't be nearly as complicated as our current system is now with how we handle compensation packages, taxes, entitlement programs, etc.. The logistics aren't important right now so I don't need go into any further details on that. Once you reach a level, you have the choice to procure the goods or services that come with that benefit at no additional cost to you. We as consumers are free to choose where we take our business. This is no different than our current system. Only now we prove this with a social security card that tells the business what level benefit we have reached. For example, you go to a restaurant show them your card, they swipe it to verify and provide you with the service and food. If you don"t like the food or service, you don"t return to that business. If no one returns, they go out of business. The owners may or may not be allowed to start a new business. That will be up to either the Small Business Administration or the Fairness Review Board or both. Conversely, business failure will be reduced because of proper preparation for success and the ability to hire business managers and mentors will have increased. Nonetheless, there is still a risk of failure and a reward of success, although not as devastating when a loss in our current system is experienced. check out the debate: http://www.debate.org/debates/Abolishing-and-Eliminating-Currency-is-a-viable-proposal./1/ http://thenewsocialsecurity.org/blog.php #thenewssa