Author: DhammaSeeker

uraleechusux

I spent the better part of today implementing anti-leeching technology on evanescencereference.info. I reviewed the stats on all the domains I host, and evanescencereference.info is by far the biggest by bandwidth use. A significant portion of that bandwidth looked to be hotlinked files. Well no more of that.

All of the content is still there and available for its intended purpose, but no more free hosting for the leeches. MUAR!

Red and Blue have spoken; White would love some airtime.

Passing on this excellent opinion piece by Chris Trulock.

Red and Blue have spoken, White would love some airtime…

Can we not conduct our political discourse with any dignity and self-respect anymore?

I am really unbelievably sick and tired of ‘right-wing nutjob fascist conservatives’ and ‘bleeding heart communist/socialist/nazi liberals.’
Grow a pair. You disagree with someone about politics? Fine.
That doesn’t give you the unalienable right to slap them into some sweeping generalization and dismiss all of their arguments. Can you spell a-d h-o-m-i-n-e-m?

Let’s play the comparison game, shall we?
I consider myself from the south. This means that everyone in the rest of the country, on any given issue, is wrong. They don’t understand what life is like here in the south, they haven’t lived it. I am right about the nature of war and honor and valor and political efficacy simply because I am Southern. Everyone else who calls themselves Southern agrees with me, and those dumb Northern City-folk have no idea what hard work really is…

Do you see the parallel? Look closer.
I’m German. Those American idiots have no idea how democracy actually works. Look at them, getting all worked up because a candidate doesn’t salute the flag the same way everyone else does. Do they even know the political policies of the people they vote for? Probably not, poor uneducated bastards.

Still not getting it?
Let me spell it out.

Politics do not consist of left and right, conservative and liberal, right and wrong. They consist of an obscene number of varying policies and standpoints on issues that may, or may not, even effect us.
I have a view on abortion. I’ll never have one, and in some minds I don’t have the right to make a judgment because of that. Is that correct? No. I have a functioning brain, so I’m entitled to my opinion.

That doesn’t mean my opinion is entitled to force its truth on others. What is right for me does not have to be right for Jane Smith.

In other news? The election is over.

Mccain lost. He conceded graciously. I respect him a great deal for that, despite his pathetic excuse for human-being audience that treated his concession more like a football game, to be booed and cheered inappropriately.

Obama won. By a large margin. By a *very* large margin. The election was not close, at all.
He gave Senator McCain a great deal of respect in his speech. He cited the great contributions McCain had made, both as a senator and as a soldier, and as a human being. I respect him for acknowledging that *before* he said a single word of thanks to anyone else. The people lording the victory over everyone else? No better than the booing crowd McCain had to silence.

Now, here’s the deal. We are not a loose collection of conservatives and liberals. Hell, most of the Founders hated the very thought of a party system. They felt it would divide and destroy the country.
I don’t know if any of you blind idiots have been paying attention for the last fifty years, but they were right.

Partisanship has given us great things. A deadlock in Congress, an inability to discuss politics like adults, an entire generation making judgments about other human beings based only on a political label (smack of racism/sexism to anyone else? It’s the same shit.)
We, as a country, will get nowhere if elections continue to remain as polar as this one.

Let it be an example that most, if not all of you, could not name either candidates major voting records or policy stances if you had to do so. You never asked.

But by all means, you have the right to vote based on your beliefs.
You can vote straight party tickets, as often as you like.
Perhaps you simply always agree with what the X party says, and the candidates they choose.

Or perhaps I could slap the label Conservative or Liberal on a pile of dog shit and you’d vote for it because you don’t know any better anymore.

Decide that for yourself.

As for me? I’m fucking ecstatic that voter turnout was so huge. We broke 60% of the electorate for the first time in the last…oh….50 years or more? Why is no one talking about THAT?

One step closer to a representative system. I don’t give a shit who won. Stop being children about it. The election is over. We, as a people, should demonstrate some support to the men and women that we, as a PEOPLE, elected to office.

I don’t care who you voted for, or why. We have a new president-elect, and a fair number of new congressmen/congresswomen. Support them, because they won fairly.

Support them, because no one will ever respect America until we demonstrate willingness to work with our system. You know, the one we all fairly firmly believe is the best in the world.

Support them, and criticize them, because you as a voter have the RIGHT to argue with them, to discuss policies with them; most of all, to COMMUNICATE with them. Your government should represent you. When it does not, you change the members of it, or force them to listen. You pay them for it.

If you have a problem with lobbying? If you have a problem with the liberal/conservative/moderate slant? If you just didn’t like that last bill that was up for debate? Try talking to a member of congress, instead of bitching about it to a group of sycophants.

The country will not survive on partisanship any more than without food or water.
As often as we quote, “United We Stand,” on our bumper stickers…we tend to neglect the outstanding warning that follows.

United We Stand. Divided, We Fall.

I’m not asking that everyone agree. That defeats the point.
I am asking that we all stop being nothing better than a group of bickering children.
Politics can advance this country, if they are done correctly. That is, without the use of sweeping generalizations and unfair labels. That is with the use of intelligent discourse and debate, that is with a spirit of cooperation.

Do you have something to say? Say it. That’s how our government is different, how it is better, how it works.

But then…do you actually have something constructive to say at all?

If not…please…for all of our sakes’…keep it to yourself for awhile. I, for one, am sick of the same old bullshit.

– C

This is bullshit, Australia

Australia to implement mandatory internet censorship

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.

The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy.

The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.

The plan was first created as a way to combat child pronography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate estimates committee as the Global Network Initiative, bringing together leading companies, human rights organisations, academics and investors, committed the technology firms to “protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users”.

Mr Conroy said trials were yet to be carried out, but “we are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material.”

The net nanny proposal was originally going to allow Australians who wanted uncensored access to the web the option of contacting their internet service provider to be excluded from the service.

Human Rights Watch has condemned internet censorship, and argued to the US Senate “there is a real danger of a Virtual Curtain dividing the internet, much as the Iron Curtain did during the Cold War, because some governments fear the potential of the internet, (and) want to control it”

Groups including the System Administrators Guild of Australia and Electronic Frontiers Australia have attacked the proposal, saying it would unfairly restrict Australians’ access to the web, slow internet speeds and raise the price of internet access.

EFA board member Colin Jacobs said it would have little effect on illegal internet content, including child pornography, as it would not cover file-sharing networks.

“If the Government would actually come out and say we’re only targeting child pornography it would be a different debate,” he said.

The technology companies’ move, which follows criticism that the companies were assisting censorship of the internet in nations such as China, requires them to narrowly interpret government requests for information or censorship and to fight to minimise cooperation.

The initiative provides a systematic approach to “work together in resisting efforts by governments that seek to enlist companies in acts of censorship and surveillance that violate international standards”, the participants said.

In a statement, Yahoo co-founder and chief executive Jerry Yang welcomed the new code of conduct.

“These principles provide a valuable roadmap for companies like Yahoo operating in markets where freedom of expression and privacy are unfairly restricted,” he said.

“Yahoo was founded on the belief that promoting access to information can enrich people’s lives, and the principles we unveil today reflect our determination that our actions match our values around the world.”

Yahoo was thrust into the forefront of the online rights issue after the Californian company helped Chinese police identify cyber dissidents whose supposed crime was expressing their views online.

China exercises strict control over the internet, blocking sites linked to Chinese dissidents, the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, the Tibetan government-in-exile and those with information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

A number of US companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, Google and Yahoo, have been hauled before the US Congress in recent years and accused of complicity in building the “Great Firewall of China”.

The Australian Christian Lobby, however, has welcomed the proposals.

Managing director Jim Wallace said the measures were needed.

“The need to prevent access to illegal hard-core material and child pornography must be placed above the industry’s desire for unfettered access,” Mr Wallace said.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24568137-2862,00.html

Another sign of idiocracy

CLARK COUNTY
Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstanding

A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the “writings” that got him arrested are being taken out of context.

Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole’s home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.

Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class.

“My story is based on fiction,” said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. “It’s a fake story. I made it up. I’ve been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies.”

Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. “Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky,” said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.

Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone.

“It didn’t mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn’t mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn’t mention no principal or cops, nothing,”
said Poole. “Half the people at high school know me. They know I’m not that stupid, that crazy.”

On Thursday, a judge raised Poole’s bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge.

Poole is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.

http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614

Sobering look at the foreclosure crisis

from kcet.org

Foreclosure Alley
By Correspondent Lisa Ling
September 23, 2008 11:02 PM

For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state – home to a major housing boom. But now the Inland Empire is pretty much the poster child for the foreclosure crisis. In the newer developments, house after house sits vacant – either up for auction, for sale by a bank or going for what’s called a “short sale” which is when the owner owes more than the house is worth.

SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the crisis – a company that specializes in removing whatever people leave behind in their foreclosed homes. The process is called a “trashout” – a term the company came up with because it perfectly describes what happens. Everything that’s left is dumped in a trailer and taken to the landfill.
Then there’s the guy who started a business to spray-paint dead lawns. That’s right. He paints brown lawns green. We also tag along with a couple of code enforcement officers who are spending more and more of their time having to drain slimy, abandoned pools.

Finally, we meet a typical couple who bought their first home, thinking it was a great investment and tax write-off. Now the place is worth only half of what they paid for it and their neighborhood has almost as many vacant homes as occupied ones.

One of the code enforcement guys sums up the problem in a single sentence – “You know you’re in trouble when the lawns are brown and the pools are green!”