A friend on Facebook posted a status to remind everyone that no political party is all good or bad, that no police department is all good or bad. And that's true. I never have disputed it. But the majority of Republicans in office right now, especially in Congress, and especially in the House of Representatives, have me scared right now. With some embellishment for this forum, where I can be a bit more verbose than on a friend's FB wall, I posted the following.
I'm not angry. I'm scared. I'm scared of what the country is becoming. I'm scared that a political party is holding the government hostage to hold the president to one term and, I fear, might be disguised or even suppressed bigotry, perhaps unknowingly, by people who just can't accept a black man running the country and are mistakenly of the opinion or are rationalizing their opinions by thinking of it in political terms.
I'm scared that the police in my city are out of control. I'm scared that my freedoms online are being threatened and that many of the sites I enjoy, for free, might be gone, or will charge more than I can afford or would want to pay. Okay, that does make me angry. And I never thought the day would come when I'd be this scared and angry, this fearful of losing my rights, of us all having our rights violated and compromised. What's been going on in recent months is shameful. And I fear the day that I won't be able to post something like this, to voice my opinion, be it anonymously or under my full name. And that would be more than a shame. It would be a tragedy.
~~~o0o~~~
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Fight Internet Censorship
It's amazing how corporate entities keep trying to control the internet. They see it as a business tool for their use and their use only. They don't want people posting negative comments about their products. They don't want people making mashups of movies and tv shows and music and other derivative, yet original creations. They don't want repostings of their intellectual property.
Now, I'm in favor of intellectual property and copyright and trademark, but the internet and the people who use and post to the internet are not hurting any of that. And once censorship starts, it's hard to stop. Perhaps political censorship will be next. Perhaps you'll be subject for investigation if you post something negative about the government.
Recent years have seen attacks on freedom and civil rights. The overreaction of police and city governments to the Occupy Wall Street movement is just the latest in a long line starting with the aftermath of 9/11 in the U.S. that saw the creation of the Patriot Act and the body searches conducted by TSA agents at airports that probably don't do a bit of good. It's part of the same mentality that thinks waterboarding isn't torture and actually yields results, never mind that someone being waterboarded is as likely to tell falsehoods as they are to reveal truths because they'll say anything to make it stop.
So we need a free internet to protest such activities, and to enjoy life, share our passions, be creative. If the internet censorship law is enacted, sites like Tumblr and others could be forced out of business. Here's what Fightforthefuture.org has to say in an email I received today:
"Last week there was a small meeting at Mozilla to discuss SOPA, the Internet Censorship Bill.
~~~o0o~~~
Now, I'm in favor of intellectual property and copyright and trademark, but the internet and the people who use and post to the internet are not hurting any of that. And once censorship starts, it's hard to stop. Perhaps political censorship will be next. Perhaps you'll be subject for investigation if you post something negative about the government.
Recent years have seen attacks on freedom and civil rights. The overreaction of police and city governments to the Occupy Wall Street movement is just the latest in a long line starting with the aftermath of 9/11 in the U.S. that saw the creation of the Patriot Act and the body searches conducted by TSA agents at airports that probably don't do a bit of good. It's part of the same mentality that thinks waterboarding isn't torture and actually yields results, never mind that someone being waterboarded is as likely to tell falsehoods as they are to reveal truths because they'll say anything to make it stop.
So we need a free internet to protest such activities, and to enjoy life, share our passions, be creative. If the internet censorship law is enacted, sites like Tumblr and others could be forced out of business. Here's what Fightforthefuture.org has to say in an email I received today:
"Last week there was a small meeting at Mozilla to discuss SOPA, the Internet Censorship Bill.
It was eerie. The DC groups were practically screaming "this bill is the worst we've ever seen, and we can't stop it" -- while everyone else had barely heard of it. The consensus? We needed to wake people up.
Well, this week the Internet woke up. *You* woke the Internet up.
Over 80,000 Tumblr users called ther representatives. SOPA was a trending tweet in the U.S. and between the Electronic Fronteir Foundation, Avaaz, and Demand Progress (groups that are just now working together!) we sent Congress over 1,000,000 emails.
The scary part? We still might lose. Though growing fast, our coalition still isn't strong enough.
The bill is backed by an unholy alliance of Hollywood, its unions, drug companies, and the Chamber of Commerce. They are pouring money into it, and they've been working on this for years. Yesterday, big players like Tumblr, Mozilla, Reddit, BoingBoing and even 4chan came out strong on our side. Now it's your turn. We've got to dig in and go viral.
Can you tell 20 friends about the Internet Censorship Bill?"
I've signed. Here's where you can, too.
~~~o0o~~~
Monday, November 07, 2011
Vote!
Tomorrow is Election Day in the U.S. And while these "off" year elections tend to draw low voter participation, it is important to make your voice heard. It's easier to complain about government activities when you've had a say in who represents you than not. If you don't like who gets elected, you have no right to complain if you don't vote. Just sayin'.
In other news, Google+ is rolling out Pages!
~~~o0o~~~
In other news, Google+ is rolling out Pages!
~~~o0o~~~
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