Call to regulate the net rejected accd to the BBC. The internet should not be used as a scapegoat for society's ills, said Vint Cerf, Google's net evangelist and a founding father of the network.
There is already heavy censorship of online material in most of the world, especially in China. Now, the conservatives in the US are trying to take away all freedom of real expression in this country in much the same way, albeit in more insidious ways.
From the inception of the internet to the modern day, the internet has been a bastion of free expression. Whether information (such as Wikipedia), searches (such as Google), movies (imdb), etc., anything, I repeat ANYTHING has been able to be posted without harrassment from governments until recently. But the pressure is mounting. The bullshit artists are beginning to try to limit free speech via the precedence of undecency standards, which we all know is the start of government censorship of anything deemed contrary to its own position (in ANY country you live in around the world). Net Neutrality must be preserved, unless we all want big brother to tell us what is acceptable to think.
30 August 2007
17 August 2007
Wikipedia under attack!
the BBC reports that certain agencys have made tactical edits to the free online encyclopedia. Though this should come as no surprise, it is yet another reminder on how information itself is under attack from groups or individuals with an agenda. Scientific facts are regularly questioned both here in the United States as well as the Islamic world and many, many places elsewhere.
This attack on knowledge is nothing knew. It has been in place by governmental institutions from tribal elders to royal courts to the nazi regime. They simply attack the truth to push their own agenda, and get their puppets (in the US, this comes in the form of radio talk show hosts) to put a seed of doubt into the mass consciousness about proveable theories, thus advancing their false adgenda. Look at the attack on evolution in the US today, what factual, scientific basis do any of these assholes have?
An assault on Wikipedia is an assault on education, free thought, wisdom, and science. We all need to be offended by this bullshit and speak out against it in our "outdoor voices".
This attack on knowledge is nothing knew. It has been in place by governmental institutions from tribal elders to royal courts to the nazi regime. They simply attack the truth to push their own agenda, and get their puppets (in the US, this comes in the form of radio talk show hosts) to put a seed of doubt into the mass consciousness about proveable theories, thus advancing their false adgenda. Look at the attack on evolution in the US today, what factual, scientific basis do any of these assholes have?
An assault on Wikipedia is an assault on education, free thought, wisdom, and science. We all need to be offended by this bullshit and speak out against it in our "outdoor voices".
14 August 2007
Karl Rove tribute
Karl Rove, the chief architect of the neofascist movement in the United States, has finally left his post as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Bush regime. For those of you who have been living under a rock or are too poor to pay attention, let me give you a brief list of his highlights as executive puppet master to King George.
1. He was instumental in devizing the most divisive and polarizing political attack strategy in US history. Rove advocated "energizing" the conservative republican base to win elections, rather than seek middle ground positions. Although they somehow worked in getting a doofus like George Bush elected twice, they mercilessly savaged good people both on the left and in the middle for the last 7 years. This shifted the political spectrum in this country far to the right, making even regular conservatives appear to be moderates by comparison.
2. This brutal tactic of vicious and personal attacks extended to means inside office as well. In the wake of 911, he tried to score politcal points by saying that, "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." He insinuated Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "fathered an illegitimate black child". Rove is linked to the so called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the smear group that accused war hero John F. Kerry of cowardice in the 2004 election. Typical rumor-mongering and dirty mud slinging that effectively plants a seed without any evidence, but always has an effect.
3. TREASON! Hot Karl was likely the one who orchestrated, if not directly leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative, Valeria Plame. This was done as direct retribution because her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, IV, refused to manufacture evidence implicating Iraq as trying to purchase Yellowcake from Nigeria in the propaganda war leading up to the invasion.
4. Karl Rove was involved in the firings of 9 US attorney who were not Republican loyalists. Though Alberto Gonzales is ultimately the one with the greatest fault here, it was a vindictive politcal vendetta meant to further stack the courts with former colleagues and neocon activist judges. Further, he was likely involved in the "accidental" deleting of all emails pertaining to this scandal (funny how those were the only ones that disappeared).
There are many, many more things (this IHT for example)I could list in detail, but I think you get the idea. This behind the scenes neofascist is finally out of official government. There is a legacy of destruction behind him, and I dont think anybody could blame the Democrats if they adopt similar attactics to rebalance the political system when they win the presidency in 2008 (though it will take them 8 years to undo the damage).
Remember Karl Rove not at "boy genius" or "bushs brain", but as Darth Deceiptful.
Kosovo partition
An international envoy says the partition of Kosovo could be acceptable as a way of breaking the deadlock over the province's future. the BBC reports.
This may be only viable political solution to this horrific situation in my opinion. It would appease the Kosovo Albanians by giving them their independence while allowing the Serbs who cherish this land as the birthplace of their culture and civilization a stake as well. In order to be an acceptable compromise by the Serbian nation however, the partition would have to include an area much larger than a 10% slice, and would likely have to include a meandering boundary to guarantee access to their most sacred historical sites.
This may be only viable political solution to this horrific situation in my opinion. It would appease the Kosovo Albanians by giving them their independence while allowing the Serbs who cherish this land as the birthplace of their culture and civilization a stake as well. In order to be an acceptable compromise by the Serbian nation however, the partition would have to include an area much larger than a 10% slice, and would likely have to include a meandering boundary to guarantee access to their most sacred historical sites.
28 July 2007
Gorbachev attacks American Imperialism
Former President Mikhail Gorbachev said Friday that the fall of the Soviet Union, which he helped bring about, ushered in an era of U.S. imperialism responsible for many of the world's gravest problems.
I truly don't understand how something this important could get absolutely zero coverage in the western world. This issue is at the forefront of what has gone wrong with the world in the last 20 years.
In the insane days of the Cold War, there was a counterbalance between the Communists centered in the Soviet Union and the capitalists centered in the United States. With both sides mounting multiple warhead ICBMs (InterContintinental Ballistic Missiles) capable of horrific destructive capacity, there was an atmosphere of Mututally Assured Destruction (MAD), which didn't allow either side to get too agressive.
Michael Gorbachev ascended to the rule the Politburo of the Communist party, and this man of vision clearly saw that the adversarial and antagonistic attitudes of both nations was hurting both parties. In a bold move, he unilaterally began opening up the USSR to change in a show of good faith thru such measures as perestroika and glasnost (google or wikipedia them if you are unfamiliar).
Gorbachev was a man of peace and made the first overtures of reconcilliation, expecting that the US would follow suite and initiate their own domestic measures of trust and disarmament. Unfortunately, under the conservative cultural change embodied by the great deceiver Ronald Reagan, the powers that be in our county interpreted every concession by the USSR as further cause what we were right in the first place.
This is like some schoolyard squabble where one kid realizes thats its ridiculous to fight, so they begin to seek compromise (regardless of who was right in the first place or who threw the first punch). Let bygones be bygones and lets just walk away so to speak. But this other kid doesn't have peace on his mind, and see's every gesture of the first kid as being a pussy, so gets even more aggressive. Without a playground monitor, you can guess where this leads.
The US had and continues to have a moral obligation to stand down. We must dismantle our gargantuan sized military industrial complex, and use the peace dividend to rebuild our nation. No more world police, no more CIA overthrows of foreign governments, no more invasions of sovereign countries. The end result of us showing our truly peaceful character is a better world. The result of us bullying the world in a show of superiority is for other nations to rise up and confront us in the future. Its our choice.
I truly don't understand how something this important could get absolutely zero coverage in the western world. This issue is at the forefront of what has gone wrong with the world in the last 20 years.
In the insane days of the Cold War, there was a counterbalance between the Communists centered in the Soviet Union and the capitalists centered in the United States. With both sides mounting multiple warhead ICBMs (InterContintinental Ballistic Missiles) capable of horrific destructive capacity, there was an atmosphere of Mututally Assured Destruction (MAD), which didn't allow either side to get too agressive.
Michael Gorbachev ascended to the rule the Politburo of the Communist party, and this man of vision clearly saw that the adversarial and antagonistic attitudes of both nations was hurting both parties. In a bold move, he unilaterally began opening up the USSR to change in a show of good faith thru such measures as perestroika and glasnost (google or wikipedia them if you are unfamiliar).
Gorbachev was a man of peace and made the first overtures of reconcilliation, expecting that the US would follow suite and initiate their own domestic measures of trust and disarmament. Unfortunately, under the conservative cultural change embodied by the great deceiver Ronald Reagan, the powers that be in our county interpreted every concession by the USSR as further cause what we were right in the first place.
This is like some schoolyard squabble where one kid realizes thats its ridiculous to fight, so they begin to seek compromise (regardless of who was right in the first place or who threw the first punch). Let bygones be bygones and lets just walk away so to speak. But this other kid doesn't have peace on his mind, and see's every gesture of the first kid as being a pussy, so gets even more aggressive. Without a playground monitor, you can guess where this leads.
The US had and continues to have a moral obligation to stand down. We must dismantle our gargantuan sized military industrial complex, and use the peace dividend to rebuild our nation. No more world police, no more CIA overthrows of foreign governments, no more invasions of sovereign countries. The end result of us showing our truly peaceful character is a better world. The result of us bullying the world in a show of superiority is for other nations to rise up and confront us in the future. Its our choice.
Another MidEast Gamble
US 'plans huge Saudi arms deal'
In a huge strategic gamble, the Bush Administration plans to sell the conservative republic of Saudi Arabia 20 billion dollars worth of sophisticated weaponry to counter the growing strength of Iran in the region. Iran is far from a friend of liberal freedoms in the world. In fact, they are so brutally repressive towards basic human liberties, that they make King George and his neocon collaborators look nice in comparison. Iran is an ultra conservative power in the region that must be dealt with at some point and time. The main question is how and when.
Let us review some of the strategic gambles the US has taken in the Middle East in the past. To counter Soviet alliances among Arab republics, the Pentagon gave a vast arsenal to our current ally in the region, the Shah in Iran. Being shortsighted as the military industrial complex often proves to be, they failed to predict a mass popular uprising in that country in 1979.
Following the horrific events of that tragedy, they fueled one Saddam Hussein with massive amounts of weaponry to counter the Islamic republic in Iran. Again, failing to see things as they really are, Hussein turned out to be a brutal dictator, more bent on his own ambitions than anything else. Iraq soon turned its new arms on a territorial gambit with Kuwait. The first and second wars ensued (and let me say, the second was completely unnecessary).
Which brings us to this latest gamble. The Pentagon argues that Saudi Arabia is steady ally in the region that supports a march towards not only Western, but humanistic values (basic freedoms of human beings) and is prepared to support them with the brute force of advanced weaponry. What if, now this a hypothetical, but the question must be asked, WHAT IF this sale turns out to once again go to support some force of evil in the region? It would be testimony to the failure of the central forces in the US once again to be a force for good in the region.
We must tread very carefully in this hornets nest of regions. Giving deadly weapons to a country based on poor evidence could backfire yet again on us.
In a huge strategic gamble, the Bush Administration plans to sell the conservative republic of Saudi Arabia 20 billion dollars worth of sophisticated weaponry to counter the growing strength of Iran in the region. Iran is far from a friend of liberal freedoms in the world. In fact, they are so brutally repressive towards basic human liberties, that they make King George and his neocon collaborators look nice in comparison. Iran is an ultra conservative power in the region that must be dealt with at some point and time. The main question is how and when.
Let us review some of the strategic gambles the US has taken in the Middle East in the past. To counter Soviet alliances among Arab republics, the Pentagon gave a vast arsenal to our current ally in the region, the Shah in Iran. Being shortsighted as the military industrial complex often proves to be, they failed to predict a mass popular uprising in that country in 1979.
Following the horrific events of that tragedy, they fueled one Saddam Hussein with massive amounts of weaponry to counter the Islamic republic in Iran. Again, failing to see things as they really are, Hussein turned out to be a brutal dictator, more bent on his own ambitions than anything else. Iraq soon turned its new arms on a territorial gambit with Kuwait. The first and second wars ensued (and let me say, the second was completely unnecessary).
Which brings us to this latest gamble. The Pentagon argues that Saudi Arabia is steady ally in the region that supports a march towards not only Western, but humanistic values (basic freedoms of human beings) and is prepared to support them with the brute force of advanced weaponry. What if, now this a hypothetical, but the question must be asked, WHAT IF this sale turns out to once again go to support some force of evil in the region? It would be testimony to the failure of the central forces in the US once again to be a force for good in the region.
We must tread very carefully in this hornets nest of regions. Giving deadly weapons to a country based on poor evidence could backfire yet again on us.
26 July 2007
Decades of False Detention in the US
The BBC reports that "[four men] spent decades in prison after the FBI withheld evidence of their innocence. Two died in jail. After being falsely convicted and jailed in 1965, they were finally released in 2001 when the buried evidence of their innocence finally leaked its way out of the FBIs secrative locked files. For those of us in dictatorial-like states with excessive government control, this comes as no real surprise, the fact that it ever was proven to have taken place is most surprising. People disappear or are falsely imprisoned everyday in the United States and other harsh countries in the world.
A jury awared the families a total of $100 million US (worth much less with our wimpy dollar and being split by 4 families), which is hardly compensation for spending 36 years, half of their lives in a federal pen. The men who were behind this cowardly act should be imprisoned for the rest of their lives to give them a taste of what they did to innocent men, which would hardly even be enough, since these men have spent the better parts of their lives in freedom and are now nearly dead themselves.
A jury awared the families a total of $100 million US (worth much less with our wimpy dollar and being split by 4 families), which is hardly compensation for spending 36 years, half of their lives in a federal pen. The men who were behind this cowardly act should be imprisoned for the rest of their lives to give them a taste of what they did to innocent men, which would hardly even be enough, since these men have spent the better parts of their lives in freedom and are now nearly dead themselves.
25 July 2007
The good fight
"Democrats gather in Tennessee this weekend to discuss how to appeal to moderate, independent-minded voters in 2008" AP. There is a bit of an identity crisis in the democratic party the last couple decades. On one hand, the left side of the party advocates a strong stance on issues of social justice and the other, often termed the "moderate" side advocates a soft spoken approach.
In the last election, John Kerry listened to the moderate side of the party and tried to appeal early to the more "centrist" issues and "independent" voters. His opponent, King George was starkly devisive, had strongly worded speeches, and appealed solely to the hard core ultra conservative base (didn't even attempt to appeal to independent voters). What was the result? As bad of a president as he proved to be, driving our nation into deep debt, selling out to China, making up bullshit excuses to invade Iraq, and waging a deadly assault on the Constituion, this horror of presidents won by 3 million votes!
When will the Democratic party wake up? Evil must be opposed. Wrongs must be confronted. The conservative Republican deceit must be fought. The only thing that keeping your mouths shut will do is to let them get their way and win yet another presidency (7/10 terms of this uber powerful post have been under conservative control). The late fallen Senator from Minnesota Paul Wellstone claimed that he was from the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party". This is the type of leader reasonable thinking men and women need to stand up for whats right. Not some watered down type of compromiser who will sell out real values for a non-confrontational manner.
In the last election, John Kerry listened to the moderate side of the party and tried to appeal early to the more "centrist" issues and "independent" voters. His opponent, King George was starkly devisive, had strongly worded speeches, and appealed solely to the hard core ultra conservative base (didn't even attempt to appeal to independent voters). What was the result? As bad of a president as he proved to be, driving our nation into deep debt, selling out to China, making up bullshit excuses to invade Iraq, and waging a deadly assault on the Constituion, this horror of presidents won by 3 million votes!
When will the Democratic party wake up? Evil must be opposed. Wrongs must be confronted. The conservative Republican deceit must be fought. The only thing that keeping your mouths shut will do is to let them get their way and win yet another presidency (7/10 terms of this uber powerful post have been under conservative control). The late fallen Senator from Minnesota Paul Wellstone claimed that he was from the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party". This is the type of leader reasonable thinking men and women need to stand up for whats right. Not some watered down type of compromiser who will sell out real values for a non-confrontational manner.
23 July 2007
US may now strike Pakistan
Sometimes the Republicans are so ridiculously and obnoxiously stupid that I have to wonder how they got so shortchanged on brains at birth. In their latest signs of lunacy, the govt of King George states that "American forces might be sent into Pakistan to strike at Osama Bin Laden." Don't misunderstand me, any chance to hit that islamo-conservative fanatic would be music to my ears, but if he is in Pakistan, you *have* to let them do the job.
"President Pervez Musharraf has a shaky hold over their country the way it is, and has already "vowed to root out extremists from every corner of the country". The conservative elements of this country are ready to rebel, and all it would take is a spark, like King George ordering an airstrike within their sovereign borders. Then what would we have? A conservative islamic uprising and possible revolution in Pakistan.
The short sighted nature of Republicans in the US simply astounds me. Sometimes I think they *want* the conservative islamists to take control over there (maybe to justify destroying the economy to support a mammoth military-industrial complex or using the Constitution as toilet paper).
"President Pervez Musharraf has a shaky hold over their country the way it is, and has already "vowed to root out extremists from every corner of the country". The conservative elements of this country are ready to rebel, and all it would take is a spark, like King George ordering an airstrike within their sovereign borders. Then what would we have? A conservative islamic uprising and possible revolution in Pakistan.
The short sighted nature of Republicans in the US simply astounds me. Sometimes I think they *want* the conservative islamists to take control over there (maybe to justify destroying the economy to support a mammoth military-industrial complex or using the Constitution as toilet paper).
18 July 2007
Political Vendettas
US Govt attacking Cats. In a region of the USA that actively aspires to achieve independence, the Keys of Florida, the US Government under the direction of King George and his consevative minions have sunk to a new low. They are attacking the right of the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum to keep control of its own pets. More specifically, the famous 6 toed cats introduced by the famous writer Ernest Hemmingway.
This shallow and petty political vendetta has nothing to do with animal control in the slightest. It has EVERYTHING to do with a vindictive conservative republican administration bent on the task of attacking anything that disagrees with it. Under their polically appointed partisan puppet, the U.S. Animal and Plant Inspection Service officials argue that the house, listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1968, requires a federal Animal Welfare License, like a circus or zoo. Like a fucking CIRCUS! Like cats with 6 toes are as dangerous as Lions or Elephants! Get a fucking life you bastards. Wake up and smell the corruption already! Attacking cats to fight free thought via a long dead author and the spirit of freedom he inspired, give me a break. We have better ways to spend our tax dollars than a republican political vendetta like this.
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