Senator Byrd: Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences

This Administration, now in power for a little over two years, must be judged on its record. I believe that that record is dismal. In that scant two years, this Administration has squandered a large projected surplus of some $5.6 trillion over the next decade and taken us to projected deficits as far as the eye can see. This Administration’s domestic policy has put many of our states in dire financial condition, under funding scores of essential programs for our people. This Administration has fostered policies which have slowed economic growth**. This Administration has ignored urgent matters such as the crisis in health care for our elderly. This Administration has been slow to provide adequate funding for homeland security. This Administration has been reluctant to better protect our long and porous borders.

(** Remember the 30% import tax on steel back in 2001? That helped no one in this country except people who had controlling interest in US steel companies, and hurt the rest of us because increased steel prices trickled down to other sectors… Eat your “trickle down economics” out Reagan.)

Calling heads of state pygmies, labeling whole countries as evil, denigrating powerful European allies as irrelevant — these types of crude insensitivities can do our great nation no good. We may have massive military might, but we cannot fight a global war on terrorism alone. We need the cooperation and friendship of our time-honored allies as well as the newer found friends whom we can attract with our wealth.

After visiting Washington Square in Philly there was no longer any doubt in my mind that I was 100% proud to be American. Our forefathers fought against [then-British] imperialism and blind use of power and to create a society where we would be free to openly question our government. Now it appears that we are becoming the very thing that we opposed. Let us never forget that it was our forefathers that taught us that it is un-American to not question the acts of our government. Horray Byrd!

Here’s an idea: Osama bin Laden isn’t real.

I thought I’d speculate for a moment. What if Osama bin Laden is not a real person, he’s just a fabricated persona created by Al Queda or some other terrorist network? If Hollywood has taught us anything, this would be completely feasible: whenever they feel like making the latest “Osama” video tape, this guy dresses up in his old BDUs, puts on the fake beard, and make-up changes his facial structure slightly and they alter his voice after it’s recorded. If this was true, it would explain the US never knowing his whereabouts and ease in finger-pointing all of the world’s terrorism problems on him. The public likes to have a scapegoat, and what better one for a propoganda machine to have than one that never goes away and does all of the world’s evil-doing. 1984 meets Wag the Dog. 🙂

MSN.com rendered in bork-speak

If you haven’t heard, Opera software announced that in retaliation for MSN sending them a bogus HTML style-sheet they were going to release an “Opera: Bork-Speak Edition” of their web browser that rendered the MSN.com website entirely in the language of the Muppet’s Swedish Chef. I downloaded the web browser and saved off a screenshot at the link above. Enjoy. 🙂

Today’s current terror level:

Hehe.. this raises a good point however: What good are the “terror levels” anyways? What can you and I do about it other than live in more fear than before, suspect anyone that’s not anglo-saxon-protestant, buy more bottled water, and stock up on gas? (consume! consume!) I know some people at work that are network administrators, and after the raise in the “terror level” they were instructed by our CEO to “be on alert.” “Be on alert for what?” they asked, “what are we expected to do now that we don’t all ready do?

IEEE advises Congress to rethink the DMCA

This was just slashdotted, but I think it’s worth repeating. As a computer engineer, this makes me feel really good. The DMCA has hit academics pretty hard, especially when it comes to encryption. But fortunately the IEEE is thinking a little bigger:

IEEE members have reported that some content providers have sent baseless or inadequate DMCA notices to service providers, and that some service providers have gone beyond the removal of material that allegedly infringes, including blocking access to all the user’s material, suspending the user’s account, and sometimes even suspending all access to the Internet by the user. IEEE-USA believes that this goes far beyond the balance between user and content provider rights struck by Congress in the DMCA notice-and-takedown provisions.

Recently, researchers whose work falls within the exemption provided by Congress have been threatened with possible litigation under the DMCA, causing great concern for those researchers who want to publish their results in academic conferences and journals and similar forums, including those sponsored by the IEEE. IEEE-USA strongly condemns those who threaten legitimate research and its publication when Congress has stated its intention to protect such research and publication from litigation.

Pooh on your Disney

Get this: Disney takes Pooh, uses Pooh to make money. Original owner of Pooh sues Disney for royalities of said Pooh. Disney attempts to destroy documents that reveal the Pooh trail. Original owner of Pooh hires ex-convict to recover the Pooh trail documents from Disney’s garbage. Disney asks judge to dismiss case because the Pooh trail was uncovered by “unthinkable conduct.” Everyone now has pooh on their hands.