Thanks to Rense.com for the following...
http://www.ears-to-hear.com
What if We're Barely Scratching the Surface of the Jesus Story?
There just aren't enough answers. There are too many holes in the story. There are too many stories that don't speak of a God of love. Jesus doesn't make sense.
Is this you? Do you have more questions than answers? Are you struggling to believe?
Or are you a believer who can't make the ends meet?
Ears to Hear is the book that is finally telling the whole story. From perfect Adam, to fallen Adam, to perfect Jesus, and the end of time. Pastor's son, Matt Cooper, takes you on the journey of a lifetime in this masterpiece new book, which explains everything - even the impossible and irrational things like the Lake of Fire, Hell, and Demons. This book was born in years of struggle between Christianity and deep depression because of this immovable faith, and written after the author found a way out of this "rock and a hard place".
This book encompasses all the hidden nuggets of truth, even the not-so-hidden ones found in some well-known verses of the Bible, and explains with great passion the undying love of God for humanity. What began as a quest for the truth behind it all, ended with finding out that nothing was as it seemed.
This philosophical epic is no book to fall asleep to! Its easy-breezy style brings reason and logic to the Christian tradition in easy-to-understand language which makes the concepts accessible to people from every walk of life.
Ears to Hear is the book that is opening eyes and CHANGING LIVES!
All the Answers You Need:
How can hell be created by a God who claims to be love?
Was there more than one "Fall" of Adam?
What gender is your spirit? How old is your spirit?
Was Eve meant to be?
Is "the devil" really so obsessed with my life?
What does the Bible say about what demons actually are?
Is "sin" what we think it is?
What is the purpose of human life?
What is baptism really all about?
How is the "lake of fire" an expression of God's love?
What is the truth about "the beast" and the "anti-Christ"?
Is lawlessness actually part of God's plan for the world?
Why is there so much talk about money in churches?
Is the church relying on a new form of "illiteracy" to accomplish its purposes?
What does it mean when it says "many are called but few are chosen"?
Are we really saved when we say the "sinner's prayer"?
Is salvation actually conditional?
Is prayer necessary?
And hundreds of other things they never told you....
What Readers are Saying
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For a Limited Time...
Hurry!
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Reputed Hitler watercolors sell at English auction
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090423/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_hitler_watercolorsReputed Hitler watercolors sell at English auction
By MARTIN BENEDYK, Associated Press Writer Martin Benedyk, Associated Press Writer
Thu Apr 23, 2009
LUDLOW, England – What a British auction house claims are a set of paintings and sketches by a young Adolf Hitler sold at auction Thursday for 97,672 pounds ($143,358).Among the 15 pictures is a portrait of solitary figure dressed in brown peering into wine-colored waters. The date is 1910, the signature reads "A. Hitler" and scribbled just over the mysterious figure are the letters: "A.H."
So is this a portrait of the Fuehrer as a young man?
"I don't think they're fakes," said Richard Westwood-Brookes, historical documents expert at auction house Mullocks that carried out the sale. He said he did not believe anyone would have the nerve to fake the pictures, given the global publicity they have received.
The portrait itself sold for about 10,000 pounds ($14,600). The buyer John Ratledge, 46, said he planned to hang it at home or in his office.
Westwood-Brookes said the paintings were sold to the current vendor, who is not identified, by a soldier serving with Britain's Royal Manchester Regiment in 1945, when it was stationed in the German city of Essen.
Best known as the genocidal dictator who butchered millions in his quest to unite Europe under German rule, Hitler also had a largely unsuccessful career as an artist in his early years. He is believed to have painted hundreds of pieces, although most art critics have been unmoved.
Westwood-Brookes acknowledged that the pieces were "hardly Picasso," but — concerns over authenticity aside — Hitler's works had a track record of attracting high bids. In 2006 watercolors and sketches attributed to the Nazi leader raised more than 100,000 pounds at an auction in the small town of Lostwithiel in southwestern England. Another batch of purported Hitler paintings is due to come up for auction in the German city of Nuremberg later this month.
Even if it were proven genuine beyond a doubt, the Hitler watercolor would not be the first self-portrait of the Nazi dictator discovered.
In 1987 the late historian Werner Maser said he had unearthed an oil portrait of Hitler executed in 1925. Maser, who wrote several Hitler biographies, told the AP at the time that the painting showed Hitler in traditional Bavarian dress with short trousers and long white socks.
___
Associated Press Writer Raphael G. Satter in London contributed to this report.
We Are America! We Do Not Fucking Torture!
http://www.newshounds.us/2009/04/22/shepard_smith_tells_fox_host_we_are_america_we_do_not_fucking_torture.php
Shepard Smith Tells Fox Host: We Are America! We Do Not Fucking Torture!
Reported by Ellen - April 22, 2009
I hope you will all join me in giving Fox News host Shepard Smith a virtual standing ovation for his emphatic, no-holds-barred stance against torture. We've been sent two YouTube videos of Smith. One on his own show, Studio B, where he much less excitedly told his guests, “We are America. We don't torture. And the moment that is not the case, I want off the train.” On The Strategy Room, an online show, Smith pounded on the table and said vehemently, “We are America! I don't give a rat's ass if it helps! We do not fucking torture!” With video.
On Studio B, Smith's guest Judith Miller, the disgraced former New York Times reporter, said, “Enhanced interrogation techniques, it's Orwellian. It's Orwellian for torture.” She pointed out that Israel, “which knows a little something about dealing with terrorists in ticking bomb situations,” outlawed waterboarding a long time ago.
After some back and forth with Miller and the other guest, the “enhanced interrogations” supporter Cliff May, Smith said, “We are America. We don't torture. And the moment that is not the case, I want off the train. This government is of, by and for the people. That means it's mine.”
On The Strategy Room (I'm guessing this was a later appearance but it's an all day show and there's no time stamp), Smith lost it when his colleague, Fox News' Trace Gallagher said, “This stuff helped.”
Smith pounded on the table, “We are America! I don't give a rat's ass if it helps! We are America! We do not fucking torture! We don't do it.”
If you'd like to send some props to Smith, you can email his show at studiob@foxnews.com.
Shepard Smith Tells Fox Host: We Are America! We Do Not Fucking Torture!
Reported by Ellen - April 22, 2009
I hope you will all join me in giving Fox News host Shepard Smith a virtual standing ovation for his emphatic, no-holds-barred stance against torture. We've been sent two YouTube videos of Smith. One on his own show, Studio B, where he much less excitedly told his guests, “We are America. We don't torture. And the moment that is not the case, I want off the train.” On The Strategy Room, an online show, Smith pounded on the table and said vehemently, “We are America! I don't give a rat's ass if it helps! We do not fucking torture!” With video.
On Studio B, Smith's guest Judith Miller, the disgraced former New York Times reporter, said, “Enhanced interrogation techniques, it's Orwellian. It's Orwellian for torture.” She pointed out that Israel, “which knows a little something about dealing with terrorists in ticking bomb situations,” outlawed waterboarding a long time ago.
After some back and forth with Miller and the other guest, the “enhanced interrogations” supporter Cliff May, Smith said, “We are America. We don't torture. And the moment that is not the case, I want off the train. This government is of, by and for the people. That means it's mine.”
On The Strategy Room (I'm guessing this was a later appearance but it's an all day show and there's no time stamp), Smith lost it when his colleague, Fox News' Trace Gallagher said, “This stuff helped.”
Smith pounded on the table, “We are America! I don't give a rat's ass if it helps! We are America! We do not fucking torture! We don't do it.”
If you'd like to send some props to Smith, you can email his show at studiob@foxnews.com.
ANCIENT MYSTERIES CONFERENCE
WORLD EXPLORERS CLUB
ADVENTURES UNLIMITED PRESS
PRESENTS
ANCIENT MYSTERIES CONFERENCE
Satuday, May 16th, 2009
A 2 Day Event in Kempton Illinois
Guest Speakers
David Hatcher Childress: Mysteries of Lemuria & the Pacific, Christopher Dunn: Evidence of Ancient Machining, Kenn Thomas: The NASA-Nazi-JFK Link, Joseph P. Farrell: Nazi International & the Bell, Jerry E. Smith: HAARP and Weather Warfare, Plus special guest Mars Expert John Brandenburg
The Venue
The conference will be hosted by Adventures Unlimited and the World Explorers Club in beautiful, downtown Kempton, Illinois. The One Adventure Place building houses the Adventures Unlimited Bookstore as well as the catalog sales division. Across the street is Sgt. Pepper’s Bar & Grill. Kempton is located in northern Illinois about 75 miles from Chicago’s major airports. It is 30 miles west of Kankakee, south of Chicago.
Conference Costs
$60 for complete conference before April 30.
$65 thereafter. The conference includes lunch.
$25 per any session (excluding lunch).
Drinks and tipping are extra. The bar is a cash bar.
Accommodations
Accommodations are not included in the conference fee. Accommodations can be found at several bed and breakfast establishments in Kempton and Stelle (an “intentional community” five miles from Kempton). Motels are located in Dwight, Kankakee and other nearby towns (about 15 to 25 minutes away). Call 1-815-253-9000 to book a room at the B&B’s (they fill up early).
Registration
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover cardholders can register by phone, fax or the Internet.
To register by phone:
Call Toll Free at 1-800-718-4514
(Foreign call 1-815-253-6390).
To register by fax:
Fax your registration details to 1-815-253-6300.
To register Online:
Email your registration to: auphq@frontiernet.net
To register by mail or courier:
Make check payable to Adventures Unlimited
Mail to:
Adventures Unlimited Conference
One Adventure Place, Box 74
Kempton, Illinois 60946, USA
Schedule of Events
Day 1 FRIDAY May 15
Welcome to Kempton, Adventures Unlimited and The World Explorers Club!
5:00 pm-10:00 pm: Conference Cocktail Party at the Adventures Unlimited Bookstore, 301 Main Street (One Adventure Place). Free drinks & hors d’oeuvres.
Day 2 SATURDAY May 16
9:45 am: Gather at the American Legion Hall (one block from the bookstore) for announcements and presentations.
10:00-11:00: HAARP and Weather Warfare
Presented by Jerry E. Smith
11:05-12:15: Nazi International & the Bell
Presented by Joseph P. Farrell
12:15-1:15: Conference Luncheon (Drinks not included)
1:15-2:30: Mysteries of Lemuria & the Pacific
Presented by David Hatcher Childress
2:30-3:30: The NASA-Nazi-JFK Link
Presented by Kenn Thomas
3:45-5:00 Evidence of Ancient Machining
Presented by Christopher Dunn
Conference Ends
Dinner can be had at Sgt. Pepper’s (Not Included)
5:00-8:00: Bookstore will be open.
Day 3 SUNDAY May 17
10:00-4:00: Open House at the Adventures Unlimited Bookstore.
All visitors Welcome. Authors will be signing books, etc.
More Information
For more information on the conference or on accommodations, call WEX at 815-253-9000, or Adventures Unlimited at 815-253-6390 Mon.-Sat., 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.
ADVENTURES UNLIMITED PRESS
PRESENTS
ANCIENT MYSTERIES CONFERENCE
Satuday, May 16th, 2009
A 2 Day Event in Kempton Illinois
Guest Speakers
David Hatcher Childress: Mysteries of Lemuria & the Pacific, Christopher Dunn: Evidence of Ancient Machining, Kenn Thomas: The NASA-Nazi-JFK Link, Joseph P. Farrell: Nazi International & the Bell, Jerry E. Smith: HAARP and Weather Warfare, Plus special guest Mars Expert John Brandenburg
The Venue
The conference will be hosted by Adventures Unlimited and the World Explorers Club in beautiful, downtown Kempton, Illinois. The One Adventure Place building houses the Adventures Unlimited Bookstore as well as the catalog sales division. Across the street is Sgt. Pepper’s Bar & Grill. Kempton is located in northern Illinois about 75 miles from Chicago’s major airports. It is 30 miles west of Kankakee, south of Chicago.
Conference Costs
$60 for complete conference before April 30.
$65 thereafter. The conference includes lunch.
$25 per any session (excluding lunch).
Drinks and tipping are extra. The bar is a cash bar.
Accommodations
Accommodations are not included in the conference fee. Accommodations can be found at several bed and breakfast establishments in Kempton and Stelle (an “intentional community” five miles from Kempton). Motels are located in Dwight, Kankakee and other nearby towns (about 15 to 25 minutes away). Call 1-815-253-9000 to book a room at the B&B’s (they fill up early).
Registration
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover cardholders can register by phone, fax or the Internet.
To register by phone:
Call Toll Free at 1-800-718-4514
(Foreign call 1-815-253-6390).
To register by fax:
Fax your registration details to 1-815-253-6300.
To register Online:
Email your registration to: auphq@frontiernet.net
To register by mail or courier:
Make check payable to Adventures Unlimited
Mail to:
Adventures Unlimited Conference
One Adventure Place, Box 74
Kempton, Illinois 60946, USA
Schedule of Events
Day 1 FRIDAY May 15
Welcome to Kempton, Adventures Unlimited and The World Explorers Club!
5:00 pm-10:00 pm: Conference Cocktail Party at the Adventures Unlimited Bookstore, 301 Main Street (One Adventure Place). Free drinks & hors d’oeuvres.
Day 2 SATURDAY May 16
9:45 am: Gather at the American Legion Hall (one block from the bookstore) for announcements and presentations.
10:00-11:00: HAARP and Weather Warfare
Presented by Jerry E. Smith
11:05-12:15: Nazi International & the Bell
Presented by Joseph P. Farrell
12:15-1:15: Conference Luncheon (Drinks not included)
1:15-2:30: Mysteries of Lemuria & the Pacific
Presented by David Hatcher Childress
2:30-3:30: The NASA-Nazi-JFK Link
Presented by Kenn Thomas
3:45-5:00 Evidence of Ancient Machining
Presented by Christopher Dunn
Conference Ends
Dinner can be had at Sgt. Pepper’s (Not Included)
5:00-8:00: Bookstore will be open.
Day 3 SUNDAY May 17
10:00-4:00: Open House at the Adventures Unlimited Bookstore.
All visitors Welcome. Authors will be signing books, etc.
More Information
For more information on the conference or on accommodations, call WEX at 815-253-9000, or Adventures Unlimited at 815-253-6390 Mon.-Sat., 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Obama filling administration with RIAA insiders
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/20875/
Copyright Alliance urges Obama to continue filling administration with RIAA insiders
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
"The content industry, including the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, are applauding President Barack Obama's appointments of at least five RIAA lawyers to the Justice Department," David Kravets reports for Wired.
"They urged him to continue the trend... [via a] letter [which] comes as the United States negotiates a global intellectual property treaty and as the president mulls whom to choose as the nation's first copyright czar," Kravets reports.
"The communication was also in response to a letter the copyleft, represented by about two dozen public interest groups, sent Obama three weeks ago. That missive urged the president to stop tapping RIAA insiders to his administration," Kravets reports.
"That letter by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and others fell on deaf ears. Last week, Obama tapped his fifth RIAA lawyer to the Justice Department. The department just wrote in a peer-to-peer music file sharing case that the administration supports monetary damages of up to $150,000 per copyright infringement," Kravets reports.
Declan McCullagh reports for CNET, "Vice President Joe Biden lauded Hollywood at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening, assailed movie piracy, and promised film executives that the Obama administration would pick 'the right person' as its copyright czar."
"An unspoken reason for the MPAA event--which included a symposium earlier in the day with remarks from top House Democrats and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke--was the loss of $246 million in tax breaks when the Senate revised the economic stimulus bill earlier this year. An MPAA report released Tuesday appears designed to avoid a repeat of that setback, listing the number of movies being filmed in each state," McCullagh reports.
"On copyright, President Obama has signaled a more pro-industry approach than his predecessor, which has alarmed advocates of less restrictive laws," McCullagh reports.
"The president chose as top Justice Department officials the music industry attorney who pulled the plug on Grokster and another longtime Recording Industry Association of America ligitator. The Obama administration recently sided with the RIAA in a file-sharing suit, and Biden was a staunch RIAA and MPAA ally as a U.S. senator," McCullagh reports.
Copyright Alliance urges Obama to continue filling administration with RIAA insiders
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
"The content industry, including the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, are applauding President Barack Obama's appointments of at least five RIAA lawyers to the Justice Department," David Kravets reports for Wired.
"They urged him to continue the trend... [via a] letter [which] comes as the United States negotiates a global intellectual property treaty and as the president mulls whom to choose as the nation's first copyright czar," Kravets reports.
"The communication was also in response to a letter the copyleft, represented by about two dozen public interest groups, sent Obama three weeks ago. That missive urged the president to stop tapping RIAA insiders to his administration," Kravets reports.
"That letter by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and others fell on deaf ears. Last week, Obama tapped his fifth RIAA lawyer to the Justice Department. The department just wrote in a peer-to-peer music file sharing case that the administration supports monetary damages of up to $150,000 per copyright infringement," Kravets reports.
Declan McCullagh reports for CNET, "Vice President Joe Biden lauded Hollywood at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening, assailed movie piracy, and promised film executives that the Obama administration would pick 'the right person' as its copyright czar."
"An unspoken reason for the MPAA event--which included a symposium earlier in the day with remarks from top House Democrats and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke--was the loss of $246 million in tax breaks when the Senate revised the economic stimulus bill earlier this year. An MPAA report released Tuesday appears designed to avoid a repeat of that setback, listing the number of movies being filmed in each state," McCullagh reports.
"On copyright, President Obama has signaled a more pro-industry approach than his predecessor, which has alarmed advocates of less restrictive laws," McCullagh reports.
"The president chose as top Justice Department officials the music industry attorney who pulled the plug on Grokster and another longtime Recording Industry Association of America ligitator. The Obama administration recently sided with the RIAA in a file-sharing suit, and Biden was a staunch RIAA and MPAA ally as a U.S. senator," McCullagh reports.
A Pinstriped Patriot Act
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090504/zirin2
A Pinstriped Patriot Act
By Dave Zirin
One fine day last August, Bradley Campeau-Laurion just wanted to leave his seat and use the bathroom at the old Yankee Stadium. The 30-year-old New York resident had no idea that nature's call would lead him down a road to perdition where he would be accused of challenging God, country, and the joys of compulsory patriotism at the ballpark.
Under the thirty-six-year watch of George Steinbrenner--and now his offspring--the New York Yankees have always wrapped their fans, like it or not, in red, white and blue bombast. This is the team that so loves God and country that it mandates the singing of two national anthems--Francis Scott Key's 1814 epic, "The Star-Spangled Banner" and Irving Berlin's 1918 anthem, "God Bless America."
For a while after 9/11, "God Bless America" was standard fare in major league ballparks. But while most ball clubs have let the practice slide, the super-patriotic Steinbrenners have ramped up the flag-waving, extending the seventh-inning stretch to include "God Bless America" along with the traditional "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Sometimes "God Bless..." is performed live by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, but most often the tune is delivered over stadium loudspeakers via a scratchy vintage recording by the operatic warbler Kate Smith, who first popularized the song in 1938. But no matter who's singing, the Yankees have been known to cordon off the aisles and put off-duty police officers in place to ensure the multitudes stand at respectful attention. (Fans of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but a long-dead singer and the chains on your bleachers!)
Not only do the Yankees expect fans to stand during the singing of patriotic songs, but during the Bush era they virtually mandated fan support for the Iraq War, all the while extorting tax breaks and other public subsidies from city, state and federal governments to build their new $1 .5 billion cathedral of baseball. (Separation of sports and state anyone?) For the Steinbrenners and the high-rollers who occupy Yankee Stadium's $2,500 top-shelf seats, this kind of power patriotism wedded to corporate welfare must be sweet as champagne.
But as the global economic meltdown has proven, there ultimately comes a time to put the brakes on corporate execs--to say nothing of mindless patriotism. And while some Yankees fans have grumbled and a few intrepid sports bloggers, like former Deadspin Editor Will Leitch, have raised concerns, it took one man's full bladder to hoist the Yankees organization with its own petard.
All Campeau-Laurion did was try to go to the men's room during the seventh-inning stretch. In swooped two New York Police Department officers working security detail, who reportedly roughed him up and threw him out of the ballpark. Now Campeau-Laurion has filed a civil suit against the the city, the cops and the team for violating his rights.
"New York's finest have no business arresting someone for trying to go to the bathroom at a politically incorrect moment," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Campeau-Laurion in the lawsuit. According to the complaint, Campeau-Laurion drank two beers and took the seventh-inning stretch to mean he could actually go stretch.
"As he walked toward the tunnel leading to the concourse, a uniformed New York City police officer put up his hands and mumbled something to Mr. Campeau-Laurion, " according to the complaint, blocking his way to the bathroom during the singing of "God Bless America."
As Campeau-Laurion tried to move past the officer, the policeman grabbed his arm and said, "He's out" to another officer, who twisted his left arm behind his back, hustling him down the ramp and out of the stadium.
The NYPD tells a different story.
"The officers observed a male standing on his seat, cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in an e-mail reply to my query. This account strains credulity. If it were standard procedure for the NYPD to kick out every drunken fan from Yankee Stadium, the place would be emptier than a John Ashcroft concert at the Apollo Theatre.
Campeau-Laurion disputes the NYPD account. "Not a word of that is true," he told Bloomberg News. "The whole incident didn't occur at my seat. It occurred at my section when I went to use the restroom."
"I don't care about 'God Bless America.' I don't believe that's grounds constitutionally for being dragged out of a baseball game... I simply don't have any religious beliefs... It devalues patriotism as a whole when you force people to participate in patriotic acts," he continued. "It devalues the freedom we fought for in the first place."
This ugly incident raises a series of inconvenient questions: why does America feel compelled to bind sports to patriotic ritual? Why are publicly funded facilities like stadiums used to promote private religious or political beliefs? And given the putrid start of the Yankees's season, shouldn't management be more concerned with what's happening with the players than with the fans? All should stand with Campeau-Laurion until we get some answers.
[Dave Zirin is the author of “A People’s History of Sports in the United States” (The New Press) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com]
A Pinstriped Patriot Act
By Dave Zirin
One fine day last August, Bradley Campeau-Laurion just wanted to leave his seat and use the bathroom at the old Yankee Stadium. The 30-year-old New York resident had no idea that nature's call would lead him down a road to perdition where he would be accused of challenging God, country, and the joys of compulsory patriotism at the ballpark.
Under the thirty-six-year watch of George Steinbrenner--and now his offspring--the New York Yankees have always wrapped their fans, like it or not, in red, white and blue bombast. This is the team that so loves God and country that it mandates the singing of two national anthems--Francis Scott Key's 1814 epic, "The Star-Spangled Banner" and Irving Berlin's 1918 anthem, "God Bless America."
For a while after 9/11, "God Bless America" was standard fare in major league ballparks. But while most ball clubs have let the practice slide, the super-patriotic Steinbrenners have ramped up the flag-waving, extending the seventh-inning stretch to include "God Bless America" along with the traditional "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Sometimes "God Bless..." is performed live by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, but most often the tune is delivered over stadium loudspeakers via a scratchy vintage recording by the operatic warbler Kate Smith, who first popularized the song in 1938. But no matter who's singing, the Yankees have been known to cordon off the aisles and put off-duty police officers in place to ensure the multitudes stand at respectful attention. (Fans of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but a long-dead singer and the chains on your bleachers!)
Not only do the Yankees expect fans to stand during the singing of patriotic songs, but during the Bush era they virtually mandated fan support for the Iraq War, all the while extorting tax breaks and other public subsidies from city, state and federal governments to build their new $1 .5 billion cathedral of baseball. (Separation of sports and state anyone?) For the Steinbrenners and the high-rollers who occupy Yankee Stadium's $2,500 top-shelf seats, this kind of power patriotism wedded to corporate welfare must be sweet as champagne.
But as the global economic meltdown has proven, there ultimately comes a time to put the brakes on corporate execs--to say nothing of mindless patriotism. And while some Yankees fans have grumbled and a few intrepid sports bloggers, like former Deadspin Editor Will Leitch, have raised concerns, it took one man's full bladder to hoist the Yankees organization with its own petard.
All Campeau-Laurion did was try to go to the men's room during the seventh-inning stretch. In swooped two New York Police Department officers working security detail, who reportedly roughed him up and threw him out of the ballpark. Now Campeau-Laurion has filed a civil suit against the the city, the cops and the team for violating his rights.
"New York's finest have no business arresting someone for trying to go to the bathroom at a politically incorrect moment," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Campeau-Laurion in the lawsuit. According to the complaint, Campeau-Laurion drank two beers and took the seventh-inning stretch to mean he could actually go stretch.
"As he walked toward the tunnel leading to the concourse, a uniformed New York City police officer put up his hands and mumbled something to Mr. Campeau-Laurion, " according to the complaint, blocking his way to the bathroom during the singing of "God Bless America."
As Campeau-Laurion tried to move past the officer, the policeman grabbed his arm and said, "He's out" to another officer, who twisted his left arm behind his back, hustling him down the ramp and out of the stadium.
The NYPD tells a different story.
"The officers observed a male standing on his seat, cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in an e-mail reply to my query. This account strains credulity. If it were standard procedure for the NYPD to kick out every drunken fan from Yankee Stadium, the place would be emptier than a John Ashcroft concert at the Apollo Theatre.
Campeau-Laurion disputes the NYPD account. "Not a word of that is true," he told Bloomberg News. "The whole incident didn't occur at my seat. It occurred at my section when I went to use the restroom."
"I don't care about 'God Bless America.' I don't believe that's grounds constitutionally for being dragged out of a baseball game... I simply don't have any religious beliefs... It devalues patriotism as a whole when you force people to participate in patriotic acts," he continued. "It devalues the freedom we fought for in the first place."
This ugly incident raises a series of inconvenient questions: why does America feel compelled to bind sports to patriotic ritual? Why are publicly funded facilities like stadiums used to promote private religious or political beliefs? And given the putrid start of the Yankees's season, shouldn't management be more concerned with what's happening with the players than with the fans? All should stand with Campeau-Laurion until we get some answers.
[Dave Zirin is the author of “A People’s History of Sports in the United States” (The New Press) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com]
'I'm Just Very Disappointed' NSA Wiretapped Me
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/21/harman-wiretapping-disappointed
Harman: 'I'm Just Very Disappointed' NSA Wiretapped Me, After I Voted To Allow Them To
On Sunday, CQ reported that the NSA had wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), listening in on a call in which she apparently offered a quid pro quo to a lobbyist group. Harman has vigorously denied the reports. Today, she appeared on MSNBC to express her shock and outrage that her phone calls were listened to, saying she was "disappointed" that the U.S. could have allowed such "a gross abuse of power":
HARMAN: I'm just very disappointed that my country -- I'm an American citizen just like you are -- could have permitted what I think is a gross abuse of power in recent years. I'm one member of Congress who may be caught up in it, but I have a bully pulpit and I can fight back. I'm thinking about others who have no bully pulpit and may not be aware, as I was not, that right now somewhere, someone's listening in on their conversations, and they're innocent Americans.
Harman's anger seems a bit disingenuous, considering that she was one of the earliest supporters of Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. When the practice was revealed by the New York Times in 2005, she defended it as "essential," though admitted she was "concerned" about its scope:
"I have been briefed since 2003 on a highly classified NSA foreign collection program that targeted Al Qaeda. I believe the program is essential to U.S. national security and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities," Harman said. "Like many Americans, I am deeply concerned by reports that this program in fact goes far beyond the measures to target Al Qaeda about which I was briefed."
In fact, in 2004 she "urged that The [New York] Times not publish the article" revealing Bush's program.
Indeed, she issued a press release in 2007 specifically highlighting that the updated FISA bill she approved of would fully allow warrantless wiretapping:
This bill does a good job -- a far better job than the bill reported last month by the Senate Intelligence Committee. ... This legislation arms our intelligence professionals with the ability to listen to foreign targets -- without a warrant -- to uncover plots that threaten US national security. The bill also protects the Constitutional rights of Americans by requiring the FISA court, an Article III Court, to approve procedures to ensure that Americans are not targeted for warrantless surveillance.
To her credit, Harman warned against "a slippery legal slope to potential unprecedented abuse of innocent Americans' privacy" and stated her opposition to granting telecommunications companies retroactive immunity. Perhaps her outrage at being a target of wiretapping herself will force her to realize that the program she deemed "essential" invaded the privacy of untold millions of Americans.
Harman: 'I'm Just Very Disappointed' NSA Wiretapped Me, After I Voted To Allow Them To
On Sunday, CQ reported that the NSA had wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), listening in on a call in which she apparently offered a quid pro quo to a lobbyist group. Harman has vigorously denied the reports. Today, she appeared on MSNBC to express her shock and outrage that her phone calls were listened to, saying she was "disappointed" that the U.S. could have allowed such "a gross abuse of power":
HARMAN: I'm just very disappointed that my country -- I'm an American citizen just like you are -- could have permitted what I think is a gross abuse of power in recent years. I'm one member of Congress who may be caught up in it, but I have a bully pulpit and I can fight back. I'm thinking about others who have no bully pulpit and may not be aware, as I was not, that right now somewhere, someone's listening in on their conversations, and they're innocent Americans.
Harman's anger seems a bit disingenuous, considering that she was one of the earliest supporters of Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. When the practice was revealed by the New York Times in 2005, she defended it as "essential," though admitted she was "concerned" about its scope:
"I have been briefed since 2003 on a highly classified NSA foreign collection program that targeted Al Qaeda. I believe the program is essential to U.S. national security and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities," Harman said. "Like many Americans, I am deeply concerned by reports that this program in fact goes far beyond the measures to target Al Qaeda about which I was briefed."
In fact, in 2004 she "urged that The [New York] Times not publish the article" revealing Bush's program.
Indeed, she issued a press release in 2007 specifically highlighting that the updated FISA bill she approved of would fully allow warrantless wiretapping:
This bill does a good job -- a far better job than the bill reported last month by the Senate Intelligence Committee. ... This legislation arms our intelligence professionals with the ability to listen to foreign targets -- without a warrant -- to uncover plots that threaten US national security. The bill also protects the Constitutional rights of Americans by requiring the FISA court, an Article III Court, to approve procedures to ensure that Americans are not targeted for warrantless surveillance.
To her credit, Harman warned against "a slippery legal slope to potential unprecedented abuse of innocent Americans' privacy" and stated her opposition to granting telecommunications companies retroactive immunity. Perhaps her outrage at being a target of wiretapping herself will force her to realize that the program she deemed "essential" invaded the privacy of untold millions of Americans.
FBI Spied On Tea Party Protesters Nationwide
http://www.prisonplanet.com/source-fbi-spied-on-tea-party-protesters-nationwide.html
Source: FBI Spied On Tea Party Protesters Nationwide
COINTELPRO tactics in force as federal government intensifies Bushist police state under Obama administration
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, April 20, 2009
The FBI were spying on Tea Party protesters nationwide during last week’s demonstrations as part of a covert program conducted without the knowledge of local law enforcement, according to a source named as a current FBI agent.
The Northeast Intelligence Network reports that a concerned unnamed FBI agent risked his career in blowing the whistle on the fact that Tea Party protesters were subject to covert surveillance.
The FBI agent allegedly told Doug Haggman, “The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Assessment that is receiving so much attention is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and the true patriotic citizens of this country are on the Titanic. This is what bothers me. But is goes far beyond that assessment. There have been very significant changes made over the last few years that redirect the focus and assets of the intelligence community internally. These changes have greatly accelerated under this administration, and the threats have been redefined to include those who used to be patriots. It’s not only chilling but absolutely insulting to God-fearing Americans.”
The source claims that a single page FBI directive was dispatched from FBI headquarters in Washington DC on March 23 requesting that Special Agents in Charge (SACs) “verify the date, time and location of each TEA Party within their region and supply that information to FBI headquarters in Washington.”
Agents were then instructed to compile information on the organizers of the different protests and also send the information back to FBI headquarters. On April 6, they were subsequently asked to conduct covert surveillance and data collection of the protesters attending the Tea Party demonstrations. Surveillance was to be performed from “discreet fixed or mobile positions” and was to be performed “independently and outside of the purview of local law enforcement,” according to the source.
Although the level of detail collected from each operation is unclear, the information was reportedly submitted to Washington, where, “at the level of the National Security Branch (NSB), this information was to “include the office of the Directorate of Intelligence (DI), and integrated with a restricted access database, one that reportedly is accessible to only two agencies” [of the 14 agencies that comprise the U.S. intelligence community, according to the source.
“The implications to the citizens of the U.S. are ominous. It seems that there is a hostile political agenda coming from Washington that characterizes the supporters of our constitutional freedoms as threats to our domestic security, which is totally absurd. The redirection, the refocusing of domestic threats from al Qaeda cells to ‘flag waving right-wingers’ is something that has gone from a murmur a few years ago to a roar today.”
The notion that the FBI would be conducting covert surveillance and building databases on attendants of the Tea Party protests is thoroughly disturbing if not unsurprising. Indeed, before any major political event the FBI prosecutes aggressive surveillance of political groups to the point of harassment and beyond. Before the 2004 Republican Convention, the FBI initiated a nationwide campaign to track down leaders of protest groups and interrogate them, as “part of a national effort to chill dissent in this country,” according to William Dobbs, the spokesman for United for Peace and Justice.
Not long after 9/11, the FBI returned to tactics that were first made infamous during the days of J. Edgar Hoover, by collecting extensive information on anti-war and other protest groups. To highlight the non-partisan threat of the police state, the FBI is now treating so-called “right-wingers” and conservatives with the same disdain. Basically anyone who seeks to exercise their constitutional rights to peaceably assemble and express free speech is considered a threat and even a potential terrorist, as a recent Homeland Security directive implied.
From 1956 to 1971, the FBI’s COINTELPRO program worked to monitor and disrupt protest movements across America as part of an effort to stifle dissent. FBI Director Hoover ordered FBI agents to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” the activities of these movements and their leaders. The final report of the Church Committee, which was tasked with investigating the legality of the program, concluded that the FBI had performed “unsavory and vicious tactics” in undertaking “secret surveillance of citizens on the basis of their political beliefs, even when those beliefs posed no threat of violence or illegal acts on behalf of a hostile foreign power.”
As we reported last week, The Maryland National Guard was put on alert in anticipation of the nationwide Tea Party protests, while a Homeland Security spokesman refused to deny that protesters would be under surveillance from the DHS.
The Maryland National Guard issued a Force Protection Advisory on April 11 which warned the National Guard to be on alert during the Tea Party protests because Guardsmen and Guard facilities might become “targets of opportunity.” The contact point for the document was listed as the Antiterrorism Program Coordinator.
The advisory was almost exactly the same as a United States Army Reserve Command Force Protection Advisory that was issued last November before the nationwide End the Fed protests, warning that protesters were congregating across the country to demonstrate against the private Federal Reserve.
During an interview on the Roger Hedgecock Show before last week’s demonstrations, Sean Smith, Assistant Secretary of DHS for Public Affairs, refused to deny that Homeland Security officials would be spying on Tea Party protesters when pressed by Hedgecock.
“Is the department sending people to video or record in any way the Tea Parties?” asked Hedgecock during the interview.
“Um, I can’t speak to sort of things that are law enforcement sensitive. Um, so I can’t speak to any current law enforcement operations,” responded Smith.
FBI surveillance of Tea Party protesters highlights the fact that the architecture of the police state, which was massively expanded under George W. Bush, has not been dismantled or relaxed by an Obama administration that promised “change,” and if anything has only grown bigger.
The Obama administration’s announcement that the illegal warrantless surveillance of American citizens, a program initiated under Bush, will continue and in fact intensify under Obama, is another shining example of the fact that - no matter who is in power and no matter the political persuasion of those being watched - all Americans who have the temerity to exercise constitutional rights are considered dangerous and worthy of being targeted by the federal government with surveillance tools supposedly introduced to fight terrorists.
Source: FBI Spied On Tea Party Protesters Nationwide
COINTELPRO tactics in force as federal government intensifies Bushist police state under Obama administration
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, April 20, 2009
The FBI were spying on Tea Party protesters nationwide during last week’s demonstrations as part of a covert program conducted without the knowledge of local law enforcement, according to a source named as a current FBI agent.
The Northeast Intelligence Network reports that a concerned unnamed FBI agent risked his career in blowing the whistle on the fact that Tea Party protesters were subject to covert surveillance.
The FBI agent allegedly told Doug Haggman, “The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Assessment that is receiving so much attention is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and the true patriotic citizens of this country are on the Titanic. This is what bothers me. But is goes far beyond that assessment. There have been very significant changes made over the last few years that redirect the focus and assets of the intelligence community internally. These changes have greatly accelerated under this administration, and the threats have been redefined to include those who used to be patriots. It’s not only chilling but absolutely insulting to God-fearing Americans.”
The source claims that a single page FBI directive was dispatched from FBI headquarters in Washington DC on March 23 requesting that Special Agents in Charge (SACs) “verify the date, time and location of each TEA Party within their region and supply that information to FBI headquarters in Washington.”
Agents were then instructed to compile information on the organizers of the different protests and also send the information back to FBI headquarters. On April 6, they were subsequently asked to conduct covert surveillance and data collection of the protesters attending the Tea Party demonstrations. Surveillance was to be performed from “discreet fixed or mobile positions” and was to be performed “independently and outside of the purview of local law enforcement,” according to the source.
Although the level of detail collected from each operation is unclear, the information was reportedly submitted to Washington, where, “at the level of the National Security Branch (NSB), this information was to “include the office of the Directorate of Intelligence (DI), and integrated with a restricted access database, one that reportedly is accessible to only two agencies” [of the 14 agencies that comprise the U.S. intelligence community, according to the source.
“The implications to the citizens of the U.S. are ominous. It seems that there is a hostile political agenda coming from Washington that characterizes the supporters of our constitutional freedoms as threats to our domestic security, which is totally absurd. The redirection, the refocusing of domestic threats from al Qaeda cells to ‘flag waving right-wingers’ is something that has gone from a murmur a few years ago to a roar today.”
The notion that the FBI would be conducting covert surveillance and building databases on attendants of the Tea Party protests is thoroughly disturbing if not unsurprising. Indeed, before any major political event the FBI prosecutes aggressive surveillance of political groups to the point of harassment and beyond. Before the 2004 Republican Convention, the FBI initiated a nationwide campaign to track down leaders of protest groups and interrogate them, as “part of a national effort to chill dissent in this country,” according to William Dobbs, the spokesman for United for Peace and Justice.
Not long after 9/11, the FBI returned to tactics that were first made infamous during the days of J. Edgar Hoover, by collecting extensive information on anti-war and other protest groups. To highlight the non-partisan threat of the police state, the FBI is now treating so-called “right-wingers” and conservatives with the same disdain. Basically anyone who seeks to exercise their constitutional rights to peaceably assemble and express free speech is considered a threat and even a potential terrorist, as a recent Homeland Security directive implied.
From 1956 to 1971, the FBI’s COINTELPRO program worked to monitor and disrupt protest movements across America as part of an effort to stifle dissent. FBI Director Hoover ordered FBI agents to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” the activities of these movements and their leaders. The final report of the Church Committee, which was tasked with investigating the legality of the program, concluded that the FBI had performed “unsavory and vicious tactics” in undertaking “secret surveillance of citizens on the basis of their political beliefs, even when those beliefs posed no threat of violence or illegal acts on behalf of a hostile foreign power.”
As we reported last week, The Maryland National Guard was put on alert in anticipation of the nationwide Tea Party protests, while a Homeland Security spokesman refused to deny that protesters would be under surveillance from the DHS.
The Maryland National Guard issued a Force Protection Advisory on April 11 which warned the National Guard to be on alert during the Tea Party protests because Guardsmen and Guard facilities might become “targets of opportunity.” The contact point for the document was listed as the Antiterrorism Program Coordinator.
The advisory was almost exactly the same as a United States Army Reserve Command Force Protection Advisory that was issued last November before the nationwide End the Fed protests, warning that protesters were congregating across the country to demonstrate against the private Federal Reserve.
During an interview on the Roger Hedgecock Show before last week’s demonstrations, Sean Smith, Assistant Secretary of DHS for Public Affairs, refused to deny that Homeland Security officials would be spying on Tea Party protesters when pressed by Hedgecock.
“Is the department sending people to video or record in any way the Tea Parties?” asked Hedgecock during the interview.
“Um, I can’t speak to sort of things that are law enforcement sensitive. Um, so I can’t speak to any current law enforcement operations,” responded Smith.
FBI surveillance of Tea Party protesters highlights the fact that the architecture of the police state, which was massively expanded under George W. Bush, has not been dismantled or relaxed by an Obama administration that promised “change,” and if anything has only grown bigger.
The Obama administration’s announcement that the illegal warrantless surveillance of American citizens, a program initiated under Bush, will continue and in fact intensify under Obama, is another shining example of the fact that - no matter who is in power and no matter the political persuasion of those being watched - all Americans who have the temerity to exercise constitutional rights are considered dangerous and worthy of being targeted by the federal government with surveillance tools supposedly introduced to fight terrorists.
Public Enemy Warn Of “The Obama Deception”
http://www.prisonplanet.com/rap-group-public-enemy-warn-of-the-obama-deception.html
Rap Group Public Enemy Warn Of “The Obama Deception”
Seminal hip-hop outfit educates audience at huge California music festival
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Public Enemy - one of the most influential rap groups in music history - took an opportunity at the Coachella 2009 festival to warn their audience about “The Obama Deception,” in reference to Alex Jones’ recently released underground blockbuster documentary.
The L.A. Times reports that Public Enemy member Professor Griff, who himself appears in the film, made repeated references to the “Obama deception,” during the concert in California at which Paul McCartney, Morrissey, the Cure and Leonard Cohen also performed.
Public Enemy’s 2005 album was entitled “New Whirl Order” and included tracks such as “66.6 Strikes Again,” “What A Fool Believes,” and “Revolution”. The band were at their peak in the late 80’s. Their 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back peaked at #42 on the Billboard 200, and at #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip hop Album charts and is routinely ranked in the top 50 albums of all time, being regarded as one of the most influential and groundbreaking records in history.
Public Enemy, along with N.W.A., were two of the seminal acts in the organic explosion of hip-hop during the latter 1980’s, when the grassroots of the genre was all about black people becoming informed, empowered and strong and breaking free from stereotypical associations with poverty and drugs.
As soon as hip-hop became a vehicle for political and personal awakening, it was seized and devoured by corporate America and MTV, before being gradually deformed into what we see on television today - where black icons rap not about fighting the man or standing up to the system, but about how much money and sex they have while girls with giant buttocks wiggle around behind them.
We continually hear about huge music stars using their gargantuan public platforms to educate the public about the new world order at concerts and gigs.
At the internationally renowned Reading festival In August 2006, Muse front man Matt Bellamy donned a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Terrorstorm,” wearing it for the band’s headline performance which was watched collectively by tens of millions of people worldwide.
Rap Group Public Enemy Warn Of “The Obama Deception”
Seminal hip-hop outfit educates audience at huge California music festival
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Public Enemy - one of the most influential rap groups in music history - took an opportunity at the Coachella 2009 festival to warn their audience about “The Obama Deception,” in reference to Alex Jones’ recently released underground blockbuster documentary.
The L.A. Times reports that Public Enemy member Professor Griff, who himself appears in the film, made repeated references to the “Obama deception,” during the concert in California at which Paul McCartney, Morrissey, the Cure and Leonard Cohen also performed.
Public Enemy’s 2005 album was entitled “New Whirl Order” and included tracks such as “66.6 Strikes Again,” “What A Fool Believes,” and “Revolution”. The band were at their peak in the late 80’s. Their 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back peaked at #42 on the Billboard 200, and at #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip hop Album charts and is routinely ranked in the top 50 albums of all time, being regarded as one of the most influential and groundbreaking records in history.
Public Enemy, along with N.W.A., were two of the seminal acts in the organic explosion of hip-hop during the latter 1980’s, when the grassroots of the genre was all about black people becoming informed, empowered and strong and breaking free from stereotypical associations with poverty and drugs.
As soon as hip-hop became a vehicle for political and personal awakening, it was seized and devoured by corporate America and MTV, before being gradually deformed into what we see on television today - where black icons rap not about fighting the man or standing up to the system, but about how much money and sex they have while girls with giant buttocks wiggle around behind them.
We continually hear about huge music stars using their gargantuan public platforms to educate the public about the new world order at concerts and gigs.
At the internationally renowned Reading festival In August 2006, Muse front man Matt Bellamy donned a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Terrorstorm,” wearing it for the band’s headline performance which was watched collectively by tens of millions of people worldwide.
George Will Hates Blue Jeans
George Will Hates Blue Jeans
Here's the article that cements as fact what has long been pretty much known: George Will is a dorkish dweeb who hates the common man...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041502861.html
Demon Denim
By George F. Will
Thursday, April 16, 2009
On any American street, or in any airport or mall, you see the same sad tableau: A 10-year-old boy is walking with his father, whose development was evidently arrested when he was that age, judging by his clothes. Father and son are dressed identically -- running shoes, T-shirts. And jeans, always jeans. If mother is there, she, too, is draped in denim.
Writer Daniel Akst has noticed and has had a constructive conniption. He should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has earned it by identifying an obnoxious misuse of freedom. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he has denounced denim, summoning Americans to soul-searching and repentance about the plague of that ubiquitous fabric, which is symptomatic of deep disorders in the national psyche.
It is, he says, a manifestation of "the modern trend toward undifferentiated dressing, in which we all strive to look equally shabby." Denim reflects "our most nostalgic and destructive agrarian longings -- the ones that prompted all those exurban McMansions now sliding off their manicured lawns and into foreclosure." Jeans come prewashed and acid-treated to make them look like what they are not -- authentic work clothes for horny-handed sons of toil and the soil. Denim on the bourgeoisie is, Akst says, the wardrobe equivalent of driving a Hummer to a Whole Foods store -- discordant.
Long ago, when James Dean and Marlon Brando wore it, denim was, Akst says, "a symbol of youthful defiance." Today, Silicon Valley billionaires are rebels without causes beyond poses, wearing jeans when introducing new products. Akst's summa contra denim is grand as far as it goes, but it only scratches the surface of this blight on Americans' surfaces. Denim is the infantile uniform of a nation in which entertainment frequently features childlike adults ("Seinfeld," "Two and a Half Men") and cartoons for adults ("King of the Hill"). Seventy-five percent of American "gamers" -- people who play video games -- are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote. In their undifferentiated dress, children and their childish parents become undifferentiated audiences for juvenilized movies (the six -- so far -- "Batman" adventures and "Indiana Jones and the Credit-Default Swaps," coming soon to a cineplex near you). Denim is the clerical vestment for the priesthood of all believers in democracy's catechism of leveling -- thou shalt not dress better than society's most slovenly. To do so would be to commit the sin of lookism -- of believing that appearance matters. That heresy leads to denying the universal appropriateness of everything, and then to the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.
Denim is the carefully calculated costume of people eager to communicate indifference to appearances. But the appearances that people choose to present in public are cues from which we make inferences about their maturity and respect for those to whom they are presenting themselves.
Do not blame Levi Strauss for the misuse of Levi's. When the Gold Rush began, Strauss moved to San Francisco planning to sell strong fabric for the 49ers' tents and wagon covers. Eventually, however, he made tough pants, reinforced by copper rivets, for the tough men who knelt on the muddy, stony banks of Northern California creeks, panning for gold. Today it is silly for Americans whose closest approximation of physical labor consists of loading their bags of clubs into golf carts to go around in public dressed for driving steers up the Chisholm Trail to the railhead in Abilene.
This is not complicated. For men, sartorial good taste can be reduced to one rule: If Fred Astaire would not have worn it, don't wear it. For women, substitute Grace Kelly.
Edmund Burke -- what he would have thought of the denimization of America can be inferred from his lament that the French Revolution assaulted "the decent drapery of life"; it is a straight line from the fall of the Bastille to the rise of denim -- said: "To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely." Ours would be much more so if supposed grown-ups would heed St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, and St. Barack's inaugural sermon to the Americans, by putting away childish things, starting with denim.
(A confession: The author owns one pair of jeans. Wore them once. Had to. Such was the dress code for former senator Jack Danforth's 70th birthday party, where Jerry Jeff Walker sang his classic "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother." Music for a jeans-wearing crowd.)
georgewill@washpost.com
Here's the article that cements as fact what has long been pretty much known: George Will is a dorkish dweeb who hates the common man...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041502861.html
Demon Denim
By George F. Will
Thursday, April 16, 2009
On any American street, or in any airport or mall, you see the same sad tableau: A 10-year-old boy is walking with his father, whose development was evidently arrested when he was that age, judging by his clothes. Father and son are dressed identically -- running shoes, T-shirts. And jeans, always jeans. If mother is there, she, too, is draped in denim.
Writer Daniel Akst has noticed and has had a constructive conniption. He should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has earned it by identifying an obnoxious misuse of freedom. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he has denounced denim, summoning Americans to soul-searching and repentance about the plague of that ubiquitous fabric, which is symptomatic of deep disorders in the national psyche.
It is, he says, a manifestation of "the modern trend toward undifferentiated dressing, in which we all strive to look equally shabby." Denim reflects "our most nostalgic and destructive agrarian longings -- the ones that prompted all those exurban McMansions now sliding off their manicured lawns and into foreclosure." Jeans come prewashed and acid-treated to make them look like what they are not -- authentic work clothes for horny-handed sons of toil and the soil. Denim on the bourgeoisie is, Akst says, the wardrobe equivalent of driving a Hummer to a Whole Foods store -- discordant.
Long ago, when James Dean and Marlon Brando wore it, denim was, Akst says, "a symbol of youthful defiance." Today, Silicon Valley billionaires are rebels without causes beyond poses, wearing jeans when introducing new products. Akst's summa contra denim is grand as far as it goes, but it only scratches the surface of this blight on Americans' surfaces. Denim is the infantile uniform of a nation in which entertainment frequently features childlike adults ("Seinfeld," "Two and a Half Men") and cartoons for adults ("King of the Hill"). Seventy-five percent of American "gamers" -- people who play video games -- are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote. In their undifferentiated dress, children and their childish parents become undifferentiated audiences for juvenilized movies (the six -- so far -- "Batman" adventures and "Indiana Jones and the Credit-Default Swaps," coming soon to a cineplex near you). Denim is the clerical vestment for the priesthood of all believers in democracy's catechism of leveling -- thou shalt not dress better than society's most slovenly. To do so would be to commit the sin of lookism -- of believing that appearance matters. That heresy leads to denying the universal appropriateness of everything, and then to the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.
Denim is the carefully calculated costume of people eager to communicate indifference to appearances. But the appearances that people choose to present in public are cues from which we make inferences about their maturity and respect for those to whom they are presenting themselves.
Do not blame Levi Strauss for the misuse of Levi's. When the Gold Rush began, Strauss moved to San Francisco planning to sell strong fabric for the 49ers' tents and wagon covers. Eventually, however, he made tough pants, reinforced by copper rivets, for the tough men who knelt on the muddy, stony banks of Northern California creeks, panning for gold. Today it is silly for Americans whose closest approximation of physical labor consists of loading their bags of clubs into golf carts to go around in public dressed for driving steers up the Chisholm Trail to the railhead in Abilene.
This is not complicated. For men, sartorial good taste can be reduced to one rule: If Fred Astaire would not have worn it, don't wear it. For women, substitute Grace Kelly.
Edmund Burke -- what he would have thought of the denimization of America can be inferred from his lament that the French Revolution assaulted "the decent drapery of life"; it is a straight line from the fall of the Bastille to the rise of denim -- said: "To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely." Ours would be much more so if supposed grown-ups would heed St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, and St. Barack's inaugural sermon to the Americans, by putting away childish things, starting with denim.
(A confession: The author owns one pair of jeans. Wore them once. Had to. Such was the dress code for former senator Jack Danforth's 70th birthday party, where Jerry Jeff Walker sang his classic "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother." Music for a jeans-wearing crowd.)
georgewill@washpost.com
Drudge: 'I Do Not Love Sex With Men'
http://gawker.com/5200009/drudge-i-do-not-love-sex-with-men
Drudge: 'I Do Not Love Sex With Men'
By Ryan Tate
Mon Apr 6 2009
For years, internet publisher Matt Drudge has responded to questions about his reported homosexuality by obfuscating and dodging. It would appear he's still at it.
Witness his email interview with Chris Rovzar of New York, who elicited (GASP!) a reaction from the tight-lipped protoblogger to an item in Out that said the Drudge Report proprietor "happens to love Chaka Khan, The Young and the Restless, and sex with men" but is homophobic and anti-abortion-rights. Drudge:
"False. False. False. I do not love sex with men. My site is not anti-gay. I present both sides of the anti-choice-life issue... I liked Chaka in the eighties, and have not watched Young and the Restless in twenty years! But I do watch Judge Judy!"
The bit about not loving gay sex is a red herring: Drudge has never been said to particularly relish his homosexuality or embrace it; in fact his gay romantic/sexual side has been described (when alleged) as conflicted and awkward.
David Brock, the former right-wing writer, wrote in his memoir Blinded by the Right about a "scary" date in which Drudge, after bringing Brock flowers and navigating the Santa Monica gay strip "like a pro," stepped on a competing suitor's foot "really hard" (in Drudge's purported words) in a nightclub to scare him away from Brock. He also reproduced an overly blunt email in which Drudge wrote, "Laura [Ingraham] spreading stuff about you and me being fuck buddies. I should be so lucky."
Alec Baldwin stated that Drudge made an advance on him in an ABC Studios hallway, a proposition that had "kind of a creepy quality to it."
Given his purported bumbling of the matter, it's entirely conceivable that Matt Drudge has gay sex without "loving" it, at least on a level he can admit to himself, or furtive gay relationships that stop well short of that sort of intimacy.
For his part, Drudge has historically sought to blur the issue of his sexuality, tending to portray himself in ambiguous or asexual terms. He once said on his radio show, "There is no secret life here. It is found literally on the website, because this is all I've been doing." Drudge denied he was gay to the Miami New Times in 2001, even as he launched into a disquisition on (as the New Times put it) "the reigning DJ king of gay circuit parties" and summarized his nightlife thusly: "I go to straight bars, I go to gay bars." That clears that right up.
Drudge has offered more straightforward denials. He once told the Times of London "I'm not gay — I was nearly married a few years ago." But he refused to discuss his personal life further, leaving people looking for details to find stories dished out by the likes of Brock and Baldwin.
None of which is to say Drudge's statement to Rovzar isn't useful: At the very least it shows that the troubled kid treated "like shit" in high school is decidedly unhappy and uncomfortable being placed on a list of gay people, powerful though they may be. Drudge may traffic (quite well) in labels, but "gay" is one he just can't stand. At least not for himself.
Drudge: 'I Do Not Love Sex With Men'
By Ryan Tate
Mon Apr 6 2009
For years, internet publisher Matt Drudge has responded to questions about his reported homosexuality by obfuscating and dodging. It would appear he's still at it.
Witness his email interview with Chris Rovzar of New York, who elicited (GASP!) a reaction from the tight-lipped protoblogger to an item in Out that said the Drudge Report proprietor "happens to love Chaka Khan, The Young and the Restless, and sex with men" but is homophobic and anti-abortion-rights. Drudge:
"False. False. False. I do not love sex with men. My site is not anti-gay. I present both sides of the anti-choice-life issue... I liked Chaka in the eighties, and have not watched Young and the Restless in twenty years! But I do watch Judge Judy!"
The bit about not loving gay sex is a red herring: Drudge has never been said to particularly relish his homosexuality or embrace it; in fact his gay romantic/sexual side has been described (when alleged) as conflicted and awkward.
David Brock, the former right-wing writer, wrote in his memoir Blinded by the Right about a "scary" date in which Drudge, after bringing Brock flowers and navigating the Santa Monica gay strip "like a pro," stepped on a competing suitor's foot "really hard" (in Drudge's purported words) in a nightclub to scare him away from Brock. He also reproduced an overly blunt email in which Drudge wrote, "Laura [Ingraham] spreading stuff about you and me being fuck buddies. I should be so lucky."
Alec Baldwin stated that Drudge made an advance on him in an ABC Studios hallway, a proposition that had "kind of a creepy quality to it."
Given his purported bumbling of the matter, it's entirely conceivable that Matt Drudge has gay sex without "loving" it, at least on a level he can admit to himself, or furtive gay relationships that stop well short of that sort of intimacy.
For his part, Drudge has historically sought to blur the issue of his sexuality, tending to portray himself in ambiguous or asexual terms. He once said on his radio show, "There is no secret life here. It is found literally on the website, because this is all I've been doing." Drudge denied he was gay to the Miami New Times in 2001, even as he launched into a disquisition on (as the New Times put it) "the reigning DJ king of gay circuit parties" and summarized his nightlife thusly: "I go to straight bars, I go to gay bars." That clears that right up.
Drudge has offered more straightforward denials. He once told the Times of London "I'm not gay — I was nearly married a few years ago." But he refused to discuss his personal life further, leaving people looking for details to find stories dished out by the likes of Brock and Baldwin.
None of which is to say Drudge's statement to Rovzar isn't useful: At the very least it shows that the troubled kid treated "like shit" in high school is decidedly unhappy and uncomfortable being placed on a list of gay people, powerful though they may be. Drudge may traffic (quite well) in labels, but "gay" is one he just can't stand. At least not for himself.
Review: 50 Reasons Not to Vote for Bush
From The Vault - Via GayWired.com:Review: 50 Reasons Not to Vote for Bush
50 Reasons To Get Very Angry
by L. A. Vess
For some reason, my readers don't seem to like it when I rant about politics. I can understand. Politics is far less interesting than sex (though often dirtier), or relationship issues, or humorous happenings of gay life. Political rants, by their nature, tend to offend and annoy people. So unless you are a so-called 'political columnist' - it is usually best to just ignore the subject. Until, that is, you go stark-raving mad and just can't keep your mouth shut any longer...
I'm stark-raving mad.
This isn't to say that I've gone insane. No, I'm just so pissed off that I'm seriously in danger of having my own head spontaneously combust. I'm angry for so many reasons, and at so many people, that I feel like I'm flying to pieces in a zillion different directions. Mostly, however, I am angry at one person in particular - myself. I am mad as hell at my ignorant, complacent, turn-the-other-cheek, somebody-else's-problem American self.
In the past two weeks, my smug self-assurance that I was one of those Americans who was actually "educated" about politics has all come crashing down. There are three particular things that have sparked my near-incoherent rage at my own lack of political education. First, of course, Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11. Second, the wide, wide world of Blogs. And last, and most notably, a very provocative book entitled 50 Reasons Not To Vote For Bush.
Considering the wide spread media coverage of Moore's epic documentary on George Bush and all things Bush related - I won't go into detail on Fahrenheit 9/11. I will simply say that watching this film was one of the most disturbing experiences of my life. Hell, I'm a born and bred Democrat and I still found it difficult to believe that Moore wasn't making some of this shit up. I hate the Shrub with a personal passion I have never felt toward any human before in my life. Just hearing some of the words that came directly out of his mouth in clips from the film was enough to make me want to run to the bathroom to be sick. THIS man is our President? The President of the United States, land of the free, home of the brave and all that? This man, who sat frozen in inaction and idiocy, reading a book to a bunch of kids for almost ten minutes after being told that the World Trade Center had been hit by terrorists? This man is the leader of the free world???
Regardless of my gut reactions to the horrors of what I saw in the film, it wasn't until I actually did some heavy research - and found all the documented, hardcore evidence from multiple sources backing him up - that I really believed Moore wasn't just blowing things out of proportion. Once I figured out that this rather loony guy was telling the truth, even if in rather a one-sided manner, I got quietly angry.
While researching Moore's documentary, I found a number of new political-oriented blogs that I had not yet come across. Some of these were recommended to me as research sites by a friend of mine in Europe. One is http://www.cosmiciguana.com - a strange name for one of the most fear-provoking web blogs I've ever read. Reading the simple posts and related news stories that grace the pages of this site daily is enough to put terror into the heart of any freedom loving American. Then there is http://www.counterpunch.org/, which is kind of an online magazine/blog filled full of facts, figures and powerful stories of the "real" America - and the real people who run it. After spending a week running around these blogs, even taking everything with a heaping spoon of salt, I went from being quietly angry to loudly angry - very, very fast.
Then I received a copy of 50 Reasons Not To Vote For Bush, a book with a rather humorous cover all about why George Bush and pretty much the entire Bush administration are, well, quite simply evil bastards. After reading only a few pages, I transitioned straight to screaming mad. In fact, my partner had to excuse herself to run to Starbucks several times just to escape my full-volume tirades that exploded uncontrollably from my mouth every few pages. Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is more boldly provocative than any book, of course, and there is certainly nothing like the in-your-face realness of film. However, there is just something about having 201 pages full of documented information on the Bush administration’s greed, corruption and complete disregard for humanity that makes your blood boil like nothing else.
This very informative tell-all book by Robert Sterling of http://www.konformist.com/. Sterling's site is a mixture of humor and horror, conspiracy theories and shocking truths. Hell, most of Konformist's conspiracy theories probably are shocking truths. Sterling's book, however, is just cold, hard reasons to be very angry at the state of this country - and the Shrub's contribution to it. Fifty of them, laid out in a nice, neat and easily referenced format. Each and every "reason" he lists in this book why you should NOT vote for Bush - is also a reason why you should be extremely angry that Bush managed to get into the White House in the first place. But it isn't Bush that you should be angry at. You should be, like I am, stark-raving mad at yourself.
We should all be angry at ourselves for allowing this travesty to take place. We have a president in office who did not get elected. We have a president (and Vice-President) who uses his governmental office to gift his 'buddies' with seats of power and millions in blood money. We have a president who doesn't give a f*ck about any American who makes less than half a million a year - or less than a million if they don't contribute directly to his campaign fund. We have a President who took us to war over a commodity - and against the will of the United Nations. And we put him there. Those who voted for him are most guilty, those who voted for Nader have their own circle of shame, and even those who voted for Gore are guilty of not making sure their ELECTED PRESIDENT actually made it to Washington. We just sat back and let the founding Democratic process of our nation - the ability to elect the leader of this country - become nothing more than a pathetic mockery.
We marched on Washington for civil rights. We marched on Washington for gay rights. We marched on Washington for women's rights. But when the most basic of our rights as citizens was trodden underfoot like so much garbage - we stayed at home, threw up our hands and said "oh well, that's just how it is."
I say it is time we took the first step forward on that march that we should have had back in 2000. It is not enough just to say you'll vote against Bush in November. It isn't even enough to have John Kerry win that election (if that is even possible considering that our votes mean practically nothing to a rigged, Republican owned electronic voting machine). John Kerry may not be George Bush, but he is a similar creature. Yale bred, Skull & Bones raised, with money flowing through his veins - there is little that is better about John Kerry as President other than that he is not George Bush. If George Bush is the color red (appropriate I would say), then John Kerry is just a pale blush.
John Kerry is not the solution, he is merely a temporary stop-gap figurehead to slow this country from its swift demise into a capitalist dictatorship. Even if he is elected, little real change will happen during his reign. He is just too much like Bush, and too much like every modern president in the last century. Until this country can put real Americans - honest, hard-working, blue collar people in offices of power - no real change can happen. We have to take this country out of the hands of corporate money and put it back into the hands of the American people. As the now lamented former presidential candidate Howard Dean said - it is time to take our country back.
Freddie Mac acting CFO found dead
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Freddie-Mac-acting-CFO-dead/story.aspx
Freddie Mac acting CFO found dead in apparent suicide
U.S. officials express condolences to Kellermann's family and colleagues
By Sam Mamudi & Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
April 22, 2009
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in an apparent suicide.
David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer at the government-controlled mortgage company, was found dead at his home in Fairfax County, Va.
Kellermann was named acting CFO in late September, three weeks after the government took charge of Freddie Mac. He had previously been senior vice president and corporate controller there.
His death came as staff from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department were probing the home-finance company about issues including possible accounting violations.
Freddie disclosed the investigation in a March 11 filing, and the firm said it was "cooperating fully in these matters."
According to the SEC filing, Freddie said it received a federal grand jury subpoena Sept. 26 from the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York. The subpoena sought documents related to accounting, disclosure and corporate-governance matters, according to the filing.
But that subpoena was later withdrawn and the investigation was taken over by the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia.
According to the filing, on Oct. 21, Freddie said the SEC had begun its own investigation, asking Freddie for documents. Specifically, on Jan. 23, Jan. 30 and Feb. 25, the SEC issued subpoenas for documents. The agency also began its own interviews of company employees, Freddie said in the filing.
In addition to the investigation, Freddie Mac received a request from the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations on Oct. 20 seeking documents for a hearing it held on Dec. 9.
Freddie Mac has received more than $30 billion in government support as the mortgage and credit crisis intensified.
Kellermann's apparent suicide surprised some key regulators in Washington, who expressed their condolences.
"On behalf of the Treasury family, we are deeply saddened by the news this morning of David Kellermann's death," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a statement. "Our deepest sympathies are with his family and his colleagues at Freddie Mac during this difficult time."
The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued this statement: "For many years, we have known David as a person of the utmost ethical standards who was hardworking and knowledgeable in his field. As the Acting Chief Financial Officer of Freddie Mac during particularly challenging times, David was an inspiration to his staff and many others who were privileged to work with him. We extend our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues."
Kellermann's apparent suicide would be the latest of several putatively motivated by the financial crisis. French financier Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet killed himself in December after losing roughly $1 billion of his own and clients' money to the Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard Madoff.
Seventy-four-year-old German billionaire Adolf Merckle in January committed suicide after the conglomerate he controlled, with investments in pharmaceuticals, cement and other sectors, experienced problems related to the global financial crisis.
In 2002, J. Clifford Baxter, a former Enron Corp. vice chairman, was found dead in his car in Houston, in an apparent suicide, after the company collapsed in a massive corruption scandal and bankruptcy filing.
Ronald D. Orol is a MarketWatch reporter, based in Washington.
Freddie Mac acting CFO found dead in apparent suicide
U.S. officials express condolences to Kellermann's family and colleagues
By Sam Mamudi & Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
April 22, 2009
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in an apparent suicide.
David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer at the government-controlled mortgage company, was found dead at his home in Fairfax County, Va.
Kellermann was named acting CFO in late September, three weeks after the government took charge of Freddie Mac. He had previously been senior vice president and corporate controller there.
His death came as staff from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department were probing the home-finance company about issues including possible accounting violations.
Freddie disclosed the investigation in a March 11 filing, and the firm said it was "cooperating fully in these matters."
According to the SEC filing, Freddie said it received a federal grand jury subpoena Sept. 26 from the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York. The subpoena sought documents related to accounting, disclosure and corporate-governance matters, according to the filing.
But that subpoena was later withdrawn and the investigation was taken over by the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia.
According to the filing, on Oct. 21, Freddie said the SEC had begun its own investigation, asking Freddie for documents. Specifically, on Jan. 23, Jan. 30 and Feb. 25, the SEC issued subpoenas for documents. The agency also began its own interviews of company employees, Freddie said in the filing.
In addition to the investigation, Freddie Mac received a request from the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations on Oct. 20 seeking documents for a hearing it held on Dec. 9.
Freddie Mac has received more than $30 billion in government support as the mortgage and credit crisis intensified.
Kellermann's apparent suicide surprised some key regulators in Washington, who expressed their condolences.
"On behalf of the Treasury family, we are deeply saddened by the news this morning of David Kellermann's death," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a statement. "Our deepest sympathies are with his family and his colleagues at Freddie Mac during this difficult time."
The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued this statement: "For many years, we have known David as a person of the utmost ethical standards who was hardworking and knowledgeable in his field. As the Acting Chief Financial Officer of Freddie Mac during particularly challenging times, David was an inspiration to his staff and many others who were privileged to work with him. We extend our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues."
Kellermann's apparent suicide would be the latest of several putatively motivated by the financial crisis. French financier Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet killed himself in December after losing roughly $1 billion of his own and clients' money to the Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard Madoff.
Seventy-four-year-old German billionaire Adolf Merckle in January committed suicide after the conglomerate he controlled, with investments in pharmaceuticals, cement and other sectors, experienced problems related to the global financial crisis.
In 2002, J. Clifford Baxter, a former Enron Corp. vice chairman, was found dead in his car in Houston, in an apparent suicide, after the company collapsed in a massive corruption scandal and bankruptcy filing.
Ronald D. Orol is a MarketWatch reporter, based in Washington.
CONSPIRACY CON
http://www.conspiracycon.com/Greetings to all truth-seekers and freedom-fighters! Thank you for visiting the official website for CONSPIRACY CON. This annual conference is a bold and serious approach to serious issues, dedicated to providing a forum for those who say what few are willing to say and facilitated in an atmosphere of goodwill, integrity and fun. Each year several of the most controversial speakers in the world gather to share their knowledge of many different issues (rarely or never addressed by our controlled media), which profoundly affect us all. Just some of the subjects covered are: Mind Control, Secret Societies, Shadow Government, The Federal Reserve, 9-11, Occult Technologies, Suppressed Knowledge, New World Order, etc. This can even include looking to the manipulation of humanity by non-human intelligences... be they alien, inter-dimensional, demonic, satanic... whatever consciousness it is, operating on (and in) this planet, that looks upon humankind as sheep and cattle to be herded and slaughtered at will.
The primary goals of CONSPIRACY CON are to directly expose and analyze the "real" problems and the "real" problem-makers of yesterday, today and tomorrow, as well as to provide courses of action and potential solutions to the challenges that are placed upon humankind by these forces, which (for the moment) may seem invisible, perpetual and insurmountable.
I submit to each and every one of you reading this that the conspiratorial view of history is far closer to the truth than any other version of history. And, what backs this statement up... history. The so-called "conspiracy theorists" are proven time and time again to be right far more often than not. God bless the "conspiracy theorists" of today. For tomorrow they will be called "hero."
It is time for all of humankind to grow up quickly and take a look at some disturbing things. I, though, will be the first to tell you that this can be an extremely difficult undertaking for most card-carrying earthlings. This is due to the fact that those same masses are nothing more than products of years, if not decades, of programming and indoctrination (by design)... and not real knowledge that is truly self-empowering. Case in point: Look at the word "graduation." Etymolically it is derived from two words... "gradual" and "indoctrination"... "gradu-ation." Furthermore, why do you think it's called television "programming?" Perhaps the all-seeing "eye" network can answer that one. It's the one with show titles like "Martial Law" and "Big Brother."
It is said "Seek the truth... and the truth shall set you free." A wonderful statement and ideal, but it is incomplete. There is a bumper sticker out there that sums up the "waking-up" process on this planet perfectly... "The truth shall set you free, but first it'll piss you off!" And, I for one am pissed off. If you aren't, then you're either dangerously ignorant as to the way this world is truly run and controlled; you're in complete denial about this reality; or you are a willing pawn in this global game of chess played by the worst of tyrants.
If you fall under that last category, I feel compelled to quote a line to you from the TV miniseries "V" in which a rebel declares, "Congratulations on selling out your race to a bunch of night crawlers." If you fall under the first two categories, and think you can "handle the truth," then look no further. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Join us each year and gain the knowledge that will truly set you free…
Brian William Hall ™
Executive Producer
CONSPIRACY CON
Friday, April 24, 2009
Typeface Inspired by Comic Books
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992364819927171.htmlAPRIL 17, 2009
Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font of Ill Will
By EMILY STEEL
Vincent Connare designed the ubiquitous, bubbly Comic Sans typeface, but he sympathizes with the world-wide movement to ban it.
Mr. Connare has looked on, alternately amused and mortified, as Comic Sans has spread from a software project at Microsoft Corp. 15 years ago to grade-school fliers and holiday newsletters, Disney ads and Beanie Baby tags, business emails, street signs, Bibles, porn sites, gravestones and hospital posters about bowel cancer.
The font, a casual script designed to look like comic-book lettering, is the bane of graphic designers, other aesthetes and Internet geeks. It is a punch line: "Comic Sans walks into a bar, bartender says, 'We don't serve your type.'" On social-messaging site Twitter, complaints about the font pop up every minute or two. An online comic strip shows a gang kicking and swearing at Mr. Connare.
The jolly typeface has spawned the Ban Comic Sans movement, nearly a decade old but stronger now than ever, thanks to the Web. The mission: "to eradicate this font" and the "evil of typographical ignorance."
"If you love it, you don't know much about typography," Mr. Connare says. But, he adds, "if you hate it, you really don't know much about typography, either, and you should get another hobby."
Love It or Hate It
Typefaces convey meaning, typographers say. Helvetica is an industry standard, plain and reliable. Times New Roman is classic. Depending on your point of view, Comic Sans is fun, breezy, silly or vulgar and lazy. It can be "analogous to showing up for a black-tie event in a clown costume," warns the Ban Comic Sans movement's manifesto. The font's original name was Comic Book, but Mr. Connare thought that didn't sound like a font name. He used Sans (short for sans-serif) because most of the lettering, except for the uppercase I, doesn't have serifs, the small features at the end of strokes.
Mr. Connare, 48 years old, now works at Dalton Maag, a typography studio in London, and finds his favorite creation -- a sophisticated typeface called Magpie -- eclipsed by Comic Sans. He cringes at the most improbable manifestations of his Frankenstein's monster font and rarely uses it himself, but he says he tries to be polite when he meets people excited to be in the presence of the creator. Googling himself, he once found a Black Sabbath band fan site that used Comic Sans. The site's creators even credited him. "You can't regulate bad taste," he says.
Still, he is tickled by -- and trades on -- his reputation. A picture signed by Mickey Mouse that was sent to Mr. Connare to thank him after Disney used the font in ads hangs in his house. His wife, Sue Rider, introduces him at parties as the father of Comic Sans. A friend of his claims to know someone who broke up with her boyfriend in a letter written in Comic Sans to soften the blow. But there certainly hasn't been much money in it for Mr. Connare since Microsoft owns the font.
Of course, there would be no movement to ban Comic Sans if it weren't so popular. "We've been using that font for years," says Peter Phyo, a manager at O'Neals' restaurant across the street from Lincoln Center in Manhattan. "That is just the procedure. I wouldn't know the exact reasoning. It also looks nice on the menu." Mr. Phyo says he hasn't had any complaints.
The proliferation of Comic Sans is something of a fluke. In 1994, Mr. Connare was working on a team at Microsoft creating software that consumers eventually would use on home PCs. His designer's sensibilities were shocked, he says, when, one afternoon, he opened a test version of a program called Microsoft Bob for children and new computer users. The welcome screen showed a cartoon dog named Rover speaking in a text bubble. The message appeared in the ever-so-sedate Times New Roman font.
Mr. Connare says he pulled out the two comic books he had in his office, "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen," and got to work, inspired by the lettering and using his mouse to draw on a computer screen. Within a week, he had designed his legacy.
A product manager recognized the font's appeal and included it as a standard typeface in the operating system for Microsoft Windows. As home computers became widespread, Comic Sans took on a goofy life of its own.
Out to crush that goofy life is Ban Comic Sans, whose weapons include disapproving stickers, to be slapped on inappropriate uses of the font wherever they are found.
The 'Ban Comic Sans' group slaps its stickers on uses of the ubiquitous font, such as a retirement-benefits document.
Ban Comic Sans was conceived in the fall of 1999, when Holly Sliger was a senior at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, studying typography and graphic design. Designing a museum gallery guide for a children's hands-on artifact exhibit, Ms. Sliger says she was horrified when her bosses told her to use Comic Sans. She told them it was a cliché, and printed out a list of other typefaces she thought better suited the project. They insisted on Comic Sans.
"It was like hell for me," she says. "It was everywhere, like an epidemic."
In the midst of the project, she met her future husband, Dave Combs, at synagogue one Saturday. He was a recent college graduate working as a graphic designer, and she knew he would sympathize. "This is horrible," he remembers saying. She says, "That's when I knew he's the guy I would marry." The couple did wed a year later and continued to gripe about the font.
Mr. Connare says he first realized that the tide had turned against Comic Sans in January 2003, while studying for his master's degree in type design at the University of Reading in Berkshire, England. He got an email from Mr. Combs asking for permission to use his photo for stickers, T-shirts and coffee mugs to promote "typography awareness" for the movement to ban Comic Sans that he and his wife had founded. Busy and distracted, Mr. Connare said OK.
"It sounded a bit silly," he says. He didn't think it would amount to much.
But the Combses had global ambitions. A map hangs in their daughter's bedroom, marked with little red flags to show the dozens of locations around the world from which people have requested their stickers. "They're like parking tickets," Mr. Combs says. As the movement grew, Mr. Connare's image became the logo for Comic Sans bashing.
Mr. Connare eventually, in February 2004, asked the Combses to stop using his picture, and they did.
Today, Mr. Connare sometimes speaks at Internet conferences, using 41-page PowerPoint presentations written in you-know-what. He talks with the Combses about creating an "I Love/I Hate Comic Sans" picture book together.
The font has become so popular that it's approaching retro chic. Design shop Veer is selling a T-shirt with a picture of human heart on it made entirely of tiny Comic Sans characters. Veer's text: "Love it, love to hate it, or hate that you love it."
Write to Emily Steel at emily.steel@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A1
Willpower: A Game Of Strategy
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102728123&ft=1&f=1007
Willpower: A Game Of Strategy
by Alix Spiegel
Walter Mischel tested the willpower of hundreds of 4-year-olds by putting each of them in a room, one by one, with a marshmallow or cookie on the table in front of them.
Morning Edition, April 6, 2009
Mike Harmon cannot tell you how he lost his willpower, but he is certain that it is gone. On a recent Thursday night, sitting in a grungy recliner at the Stop Smoking Hypnosis Clinic of Baltimore County, the middle-aged man shrugs his shoulders. "I don't have it anymore," he says. "It's gone."
Neecy Riley, a woman sitting next to him, also could not locate her willpower. "I need something beyond me," she said. "My willpower isn't doing it." Riley went on to say that she knew that willpower came from "within," then stopped. She wasn't sure exactly where "within" the willpower was. Another woman in the group, however, seemed pretty clear on this point. "The pit of the stomach," she said with certainty.
The Marshmallow Tests
Willpower is a very familiar phrase, but what is it really and where does it come from? What happens in the mind when you resist your impulses in the face of temptation?
One person who has looked at this question in detail is a psychology professor at Columbia University named Walter Mischel. Mischel, who is sometimes referred to as the grandfather of self-regulation research, designed a series of very famous experiments in the 1960s now popularly known as the marshmallow tests.
To do the experiments, he put hundreds of 4-year-olds in a room, one by one, with a marshmallow or cookie on the table in front of each. He told them he was going to leave the room and that the child could either eat the treat immediately or, if they could wait until he got back, and have two instead.
Some of these kids could hardly last a minute. Others waited as long as 20. And Mischel believes you can learn much of what you need to know about the process of exerting willpower from the strategies employed by these children.
The Good News About Distraction
Watch Mischel's video of the children in the marshmallow studies and you will see a familiar set of behaviors. There is kicking of tables, there is singing of songs, there is counting of numbers and twirling of hair and many other variations on this theme. What the children are doing, says Mischel, is distracting themselves. Distraction, says Mischel, is actually a perfectly respectable away of exerting willpower. You simply shift your attention away whenever temptation crops up.
Think Cold, Think Cognitive
The second strategy used by the mind to resist an impulse, says Mischel, is a little more complicated. It involves not distracting yourself, but actively changing the way that you think about the object of desire. "The pre-wired way that a 4-year-old thinks about a marshmallow if she allows herself to think about it," says Mischel, "is how yummy and chewy they're going to taste."
People tend to focus on the immediate pleasure of the experience. They will think of the temptation, Mischel likes to say, in a "hot" or emotional way that makes it hard to resist. The same can be said of an adult smoker or alcoholic. But if you do want to resist, says Mischel, what you need to do is think about the object you desire in a cold or cognitive way.
So, for example, to help the children resist the treat, before leaving the room Mischel told the kids to imagine the treat in front of them differently. "I told them to think about those marshmallows as if they were just cotton puffs, or clouds. Those instructions to the 4-year-old had a dramatic effect on her ability to wait for the thing that she couldn't wait for before."
And the dynamic is identical in adults, he says. By refocusing thinking on, for example, the long-term consequences of giving in, it becomes easier to resist an impulse. Of course willpower is not all there is to resisting temptation. Motivation plays a role, as does physical addiction, and whether or not the object of desire can be avoided or not.
And obviously, consistently using these strategies is one of those things easier said than done. Which is why the Stop Smoking Hypnosis Clinic of Baltimore County will always have paying customers.
Willpower: A Game Of Strategy
by Alix Spiegel
Walter Mischel tested the willpower of hundreds of 4-year-olds by putting each of them in a room, one by one, with a marshmallow or cookie on the table in front of them.
Morning Edition, April 6, 2009
Mike Harmon cannot tell you how he lost his willpower, but he is certain that it is gone. On a recent Thursday night, sitting in a grungy recliner at the Stop Smoking Hypnosis Clinic of Baltimore County, the middle-aged man shrugs his shoulders. "I don't have it anymore," he says. "It's gone."
Neecy Riley, a woman sitting next to him, also could not locate her willpower. "I need something beyond me," she said. "My willpower isn't doing it." Riley went on to say that she knew that willpower came from "within," then stopped. She wasn't sure exactly where "within" the willpower was. Another woman in the group, however, seemed pretty clear on this point. "The pit of the stomach," she said with certainty.
The Marshmallow Tests
Willpower is a very familiar phrase, but what is it really and where does it come from? What happens in the mind when you resist your impulses in the face of temptation?
One person who has looked at this question in detail is a psychology professor at Columbia University named Walter Mischel. Mischel, who is sometimes referred to as the grandfather of self-regulation research, designed a series of very famous experiments in the 1960s now popularly known as the marshmallow tests.
To do the experiments, he put hundreds of 4-year-olds in a room, one by one, with a marshmallow or cookie on the table in front of each. He told them he was going to leave the room and that the child could either eat the treat immediately or, if they could wait until he got back, and have two instead.
Some of these kids could hardly last a minute. Others waited as long as 20. And Mischel believes you can learn much of what you need to know about the process of exerting willpower from the strategies employed by these children.
The Good News About Distraction
Watch Mischel's video of the children in the marshmallow studies and you will see a familiar set of behaviors. There is kicking of tables, there is singing of songs, there is counting of numbers and twirling of hair and many other variations on this theme. What the children are doing, says Mischel, is distracting themselves. Distraction, says Mischel, is actually a perfectly respectable away of exerting willpower. You simply shift your attention away whenever temptation crops up.
Think Cold, Think Cognitive
The second strategy used by the mind to resist an impulse, says Mischel, is a little more complicated. It involves not distracting yourself, but actively changing the way that you think about the object of desire. "The pre-wired way that a 4-year-old thinks about a marshmallow if she allows herself to think about it," says Mischel, "is how yummy and chewy they're going to taste."
People tend to focus on the immediate pleasure of the experience. They will think of the temptation, Mischel likes to say, in a "hot" or emotional way that makes it hard to resist. The same can be said of an adult smoker or alcoholic. But if you do want to resist, says Mischel, what you need to do is think about the object you desire in a cold or cognitive way.
So, for example, to help the children resist the treat, before leaving the room Mischel told the kids to imagine the treat in front of them differently. "I told them to think about those marshmallows as if they were just cotton puffs, or clouds. Those instructions to the 4-year-old had a dramatic effect on her ability to wait for the thing that she couldn't wait for before."
And the dynamic is identical in adults, he says. By refocusing thinking on, for example, the long-term consequences of giving in, it becomes easier to resist an impulse. Of course willpower is not all there is to resisting temptation. Motivation plays a role, as does physical addiction, and whether or not the object of desire can be avoided or not.
And obviously, consistently using these strategies is one of those things easier said than done. Which is why the Stop Smoking Hypnosis Clinic of Baltimore County will always have paying customers.
MadWorld, Chinatown Wars showing poor sales
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/10482-madworld-chinatown-wars-showing-poor-sales/
MadWorld, Chinatown Wars showing poor sales
Sean Ridgeley
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Nintendo's adult audience not worth the trouble?
A criticism from many gamers of Nintendo is how tame they've been in what content they allow on their platforms, particularly the DS and Wii.
As with its predecessors, though, Nintendo has been willing to sneak at least a minority of "adult" titles in there, this being a particularly popular trend lately with the likes of high profile titles Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and MadWorld seeing release, and to great reviews.
Many gamers, especially with analyst predictions, have been hopeful sales would prove robust and "show Nintendo the light", so to speak, but unfortunately this has not been the case (at least not in the U.S.), with poor sales for both those titles -- House of the Dead, published along with MadWorld by Sega, suffered a similar fate at 45,000 first-month sales -- and the usual first-party "tame" releases still dominating the charts, an exception being Pokemon Platinum (great game, but doesn't help).
MadWorld came in with 66,000 units, having debuted March 10. Chinatown Wars, on the other end, reported 89,000 units (a significant difference from the estimated 200,000 - 450,000), and released March 17. Sega apparently is happy with both their titles, however, as we see from a recent interview with their vice president of marketing Sean Ratcliffe on VentureBeat:
"House of the Dead has done very well and has absolutely met our expectations. The first set of data for Mad World is very encouraging, as well.
If [MadWorld] resonates with the audience [...] we absolutely want to make that into a franchise. I think it’s unique, and there are many aspects of that game which are sort of pushing boundaries. And it’s just great fun."
Going by the Entertainment Software Rating Board's (ESRB) data, the DS currently hosts seven M-rated games out of over 1,000, with the Wii at 26 out of just under 1,000.
Are Nintendo's consoles best left to the younger generation?
MadWorld, Chinatown Wars showing poor sales
Sean Ridgeley
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Nintendo's adult audience not worth the trouble?
A criticism from many gamers of Nintendo is how tame they've been in what content they allow on their platforms, particularly the DS and Wii.
As with its predecessors, though, Nintendo has been willing to sneak at least a minority of "adult" titles in there, this being a particularly popular trend lately with the likes of high profile titles Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and MadWorld seeing release, and to great reviews.
Many gamers, especially with analyst predictions, have been hopeful sales would prove robust and "show Nintendo the light", so to speak, but unfortunately this has not been the case (at least not in the U.S.), with poor sales for both those titles -- House of the Dead, published along with MadWorld by Sega, suffered a similar fate at 45,000 first-month sales -- and the usual first-party "tame" releases still dominating the charts, an exception being Pokemon Platinum (great game, but doesn't help).
MadWorld came in with 66,000 units, having debuted March 10. Chinatown Wars, on the other end, reported 89,000 units (a significant difference from the estimated 200,000 - 450,000), and released March 17. Sega apparently is happy with both their titles, however, as we see from a recent interview with their vice president of marketing Sean Ratcliffe on VentureBeat:
"House of the Dead has done very well and has absolutely met our expectations. The first set of data for Mad World is very encouraging, as well.
If [MadWorld] resonates with the audience [...] we absolutely want to make that into a franchise. I think it’s unique, and there are many aspects of that game which are sort of pushing boundaries. And it’s just great fun."
Going by the Entertainment Software Rating Board's (ESRB) data, the DS currently hosts seven M-rated games out of over 1,000, with the Wii at 26 out of just under 1,000.
Are Nintendo's consoles best left to the younger generation?
Time Warner Backs Away from Pricing Change
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc20090416_696468.htm
Internet April 16, 2009
Time Warner Cable Backs Away from Pricing Change
Amid widespread consumer outrage, the No. 2 U.S. cable provider is putting on hold plans to change the way it charges for Internet access
By Tom Lowry
Time Warner Cable caved—for now. In the face of widespread consumer outrage over its plan to change its pricing for Internet access, the company said it will shelve plans to implement the new price formula in several new markets.
The about-face comes just two weeks after BusinessWeek.com first reported that Time Warner Cable (TWC) would roll out usage-based pricing to four cities. The No. 2 U.S. cable operator hoped to begin charging high-speed data subscribers for the amount of bandwidth they used in Rochester, N.Y., Austin and San Antonio, Tex., and Greensboro, N.C.
Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said the consumption-based model was needed to maintain an expensive, burdened broadband network, citing other countries that for years have had broadband-metering models, including Canada. But the plan unleashed a firestorm among the public and politicians who say the new method is discriminatory and would stifle innovation. Some politicians called for congressional hearings.
Surprised by Backlash
Britt and his executive team appear to have been unprepared for the pushback from consumers and are putting the plan on ice. On Apr. 16, Britt issued a statement saying: "It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans to roll out additional tests on consumption-based billing." Time Warner won't broaden its testing of the plan "until further consultation with our customers and other interested parties, ensuring that community needs are being met," Britt said.
What's more, Time Warner Cable said it would be working to make measurement tools available as soon as possible so consumers can learn just how much bandwidth they consume on average. For Britt, the episode was not exactly an auspicious start at the helm of a newly independent Time Warner Cable, fully spun off from parent Time Warner on Mar. 30. Shares of the company rose 2.7% to 29.58 on Apr. 16.
From the moment the news broke on Mar. 31, the blogosphere was filled with vitriolic posts and e-mails from Internet users slamming Time Warner Cable's plans. Within days, hearings were being held in Rochester and Austin. Rochester Congressman Eric Massa threatened to introduce legislation aimed at bringing more broadband competition to his home city. Massa also said he wouldn't rule out imposing price limits on Time Warner Cable, which he called a "functioning monopoly."
On Apr. 16, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and founders of a Web site called Stop The Cap! stood on the steps of Time Warner's Rochester offices to celebrate the company's decision to abandon broadband metering for now. Among the rally cries posted on Stop The Cap! over the past two weeks: "Caps are for bottles, not broadband, in the United States of America."
Lowry is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York.
Internet April 16, 2009
Time Warner Cable Backs Away from Pricing Change
Amid widespread consumer outrage, the No. 2 U.S. cable provider is putting on hold plans to change the way it charges for Internet access
By Tom Lowry
Time Warner Cable caved—for now. In the face of widespread consumer outrage over its plan to change its pricing for Internet access, the company said it will shelve plans to implement the new price formula in several new markets.
The about-face comes just two weeks after BusinessWeek.com first reported that Time Warner Cable (TWC) would roll out usage-based pricing to four cities. The No. 2 U.S. cable operator hoped to begin charging high-speed data subscribers for the amount of bandwidth they used in Rochester, N.Y., Austin and San Antonio, Tex., and Greensboro, N.C.
Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said the consumption-based model was needed to maintain an expensive, burdened broadband network, citing other countries that for years have had broadband-metering models, including Canada. But the plan unleashed a firestorm among the public and politicians who say the new method is discriminatory and would stifle innovation. Some politicians called for congressional hearings.
Surprised by Backlash
Britt and his executive team appear to have been unprepared for the pushback from consumers and are putting the plan on ice. On Apr. 16, Britt issued a statement saying: "It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans to roll out additional tests on consumption-based billing." Time Warner won't broaden its testing of the plan "until further consultation with our customers and other interested parties, ensuring that community needs are being met," Britt said.
What's more, Time Warner Cable said it would be working to make measurement tools available as soon as possible so consumers can learn just how much bandwidth they consume on average. For Britt, the episode was not exactly an auspicious start at the helm of a newly independent Time Warner Cable, fully spun off from parent Time Warner on Mar. 30. Shares of the company rose 2.7% to 29.58 on Apr. 16.
From the moment the news broke on Mar. 31, the blogosphere was filled with vitriolic posts and e-mails from Internet users slamming Time Warner Cable's plans. Within days, hearings were being held in Rochester and Austin. Rochester Congressman Eric Massa threatened to introduce legislation aimed at bringing more broadband competition to his home city. Massa also said he wouldn't rule out imposing price limits on Time Warner Cable, which he called a "functioning monopoly."
On Apr. 16, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and founders of a Web site called Stop The Cap! stood on the steps of Time Warner's Rochester offices to celebrate the company's decision to abandon broadband metering for now. Among the rally cries posted on Stop The Cap! over the past two weeks: "Caps are for bottles, not broadband, in the United States of America."
Lowry is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York.
Victory Over The Pirate Bay Will Be Short-Lived
http://www.pcworld.com/article/163366/hollywoods_victory_over_the_pirate_bay_will_be_shortlived.html
Hollywood's Victory Over The Pirate Bay Will Be Short-Lived
Daniel Ionescu, PC World
Apr 18, 2009
From Sweden to London to Hollywood, protectors of copyrights are celebrating the conviction of the four men behind the world's most popular torrent tracker The Pirate Bay. The four convicted men behind The Pirate Bay -- Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstrom -- say they can't and won't pay the $3.6 million in damages and promised the site will continue running. So much for Hollywood's sweet victory and happy ending.
Hollywood may have won a battle, but the war against piracy is far from over. Unauthorized file-sharing will continue (and likely intensify), if not through The Pirate Bay, then through dozens of other near-identical swashbuckling Web sites.
Of course, The Pirate Bay's case is nothing new. Eight years ago Napster was shut down after getting sued. It tried a few legal business models, but never managed to even get close to the popularity it had when it was operating illegally. The shutdown of Napster turned its creator, Shawn Fanning, and Napster into a into heroes and martyrs, inspiring others to develop new ways to pirate music.The Pirate Bay site itself is still up and running while the case is appealed.
What Hollywood needs to remember is that sites like The Pirate Bay are like weeds. When you try to kill one, they grow back even stronger. In this case, The Pirate Bay already moved most of its servers to the Netherlands, a change that could keep the site running even if The Pirate Bay loses its appeal.
The bad news for copyright-holders is there is obviously a market demand for this type of content distribution model. And while the entertainment industry seeks compensation via lawsuits, other similar services (which I do not endorse) such as Mininova, Demonoid and Torrentbox to name a few, will continue to thrive. That is, of course, until they get sued into oblivion as well. And then there are always new technologies on the horizon. Hollywood might want to start looking at a budding new peer-to-peer tool called OneSwarm that aims to let file-swappers preserve their privacy by cloaking their IP address.
Hollywood's Victory Over The Pirate Bay Will Be Short-Lived
Daniel Ionescu, PC World
Apr 18, 2009
From Sweden to London to Hollywood, protectors of copyrights are celebrating the conviction of the four men behind the world's most popular torrent tracker The Pirate Bay. The four convicted men behind The Pirate Bay -- Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstrom -- say they can't and won't pay the $3.6 million in damages and promised the site will continue running. So much for Hollywood's sweet victory and happy ending.
Hollywood may have won a battle, but the war against piracy is far from over. Unauthorized file-sharing will continue (and likely intensify), if not through The Pirate Bay, then through dozens of other near-identical swashbuckling Web sites.
Of course, The Pirate Bay's case is nothing new. Eight years ago Napster was shut down after getting sued. It tried a few legal business models, but never managed to even get close to the popularity it had when it was operating illegally. The shutdown of Napster turned its creator, Shawn Fanning, and Napster into a into heroes and martyrs, inspiring others to develop new ways to pirate music.The Pirate Bay site itself is still up and running while the case is appealed.
What Hollywood needs to remember is that sites like The Pirate Bay are like weeds. When you try to kill one, they grow back even stronger. In this case, The Pirate Bay already moved most of its servers to the Netherlands, a change that could keep the site running even if The Pirate Bay loses its appeal.
The bad news for copyright-holders is there is obviously a market demand for this type of content distribution model. And while the entertainment industry seeks compensation via lawsuits, other similar services (which I do not endorse) such as Mininova, Demonoid and Torrentbox to name a few, will continue to thrive. That is, of course, until they get sued into oblivion as well. And then there are always new technologies on the horizon. Hollywood might want to start looking at a budding new peer-to-peer tool called OneSwarm that aims to let file-swappers preserve their privacy by cloaking their IP address.
The Pirate Bay verdict: guilty, with jail time
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/the-pirate-bay-verdict-guilty-with-jail-time.ars
The Pirate Bay verdict: guilty, with jail time
A Swedish district court has ended The Pirate Bay's "spectrial" with a guilty verdict. The defendants split a 30 million kronor fine and will each spend a year in jail, though one already says he would rather burn all the money he owns than pay up.
By Nate Anderson
April 17, 2009
The Pirate Bay "spectrial" has ended in a guilty verdict, prison sentences for the defendants, and a shared 30 million kronor ($3.5 million) fine. According to the Swedish district court, the operators of the site were guilty of assisting copyright infringement even though The Pirate Bay hosted none of the files in question and even though other search engines like Google also provide direct access to illegal .torrent files.
These two points formed the basis of The Pirate Bay's defense, but the court found them ultimately unpersuasive in its 107 page verdict. "By providing a site with, as the district court found, sophisticated search functions, easy upload and storage, and a website linked to the tracker," the defendants were guilty of assistant copyright infringement, the court said.
In an Internet press conference this morning, defendant Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi compared the whole trial to (of all things) The Karate Kid, a movie in which the good guy is roughed up by bullies, goes through a long training process, learns to "wax on, wax off," encounters his bully again in the final round of a karate tournament, and kicks him in the face with his "crane technique." Kolmisoppi sees parallels. In the end, he insists, "we'll kick their ass."
This might seem a strange position coming from someone facing a year in prison, but The Pirate Bay defendants say that this is only the first round in a lengthy process. An appeal will be filed, and the spirited rhetoric will continue. (Speaking of paying the fine, Sunde said that he "would rather burn everything I own and not even give them the dust from the burning" than pay up, even if he had the money to do so.)
The 30 million kronor judgment is reduced from the 117 million kronor fine initially sought by content owners, but it remains a significant sum. The prosecutor insisted throughout the case that the three Pirate Bay admins had grown fat on ad revenues, though the men always denied that the site was anything more than a hobby in which most of the money went to pay hosting and equipment bills.
Fourth defendant Carl Lundström, an heir to the Wasabröd cracker fortune and alleged supporter of right-wing political groups, appears to be good for the money, though his interest in The Pirate Bay was more tangential—he used his telecom company to help the site with hosting and Internet access.
International music trade group IFPI was suitably thrilled by today's news. CEO John Kennedy, who appeared as a witness during the trial, said that the case "was about defending the rights of creators, confirming the illegality of the service and creating a fair environment for legal music services that respect the rights of the creative community. Today’s verdict is the right outcome on all three counts."
The verdict itself was leaked yesterday, with the defendants first learning their fate from a journalist. "Really, it's a bit LOL," Kolmisoppi wrote on Twitter. "It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release."
It was a fitting end to this spectacle of a trial, which opened with The Pirate Bay driving a city bus up from Belgrade to Stockholm, saw the prosecutor dismiss half the charges on the first day, and featured the astonishing claim that 80 percent of the material on the site was legal.
Despite schooling Big Content on public relations throughout the trial, the defendants could not prevail in court. In comments today, Kolmisoppi argues that the whole trial was political in nature, even going so far as to call the district court a "dice court" because its verdicts are so random.
No word yet on the ultimate fate of The Pirate Bay, which at the moment remains active.
The Pirate Bay verdict: guilty, with jail time
A Swedish district court has ended The Pirate Bay's "spectrial" with a guilty verdict. The defendants split a 30 million kronor fine and will each spend a year in jail, though one already says he would rather burn all the money he owns than pay up.
By Nate Anderson
April 17, 2009
The Pirate Bay "spectrial" has ended in a guilty verdict, prison sentences for the defendants, and a shared 30 million kronor ($3.5 million) fine. According to the Swedish district court, the operators of the site were guilty of assisting copyright infringement even though The Pirate Bay hosted none of the files in question and even though other search engines like Google also provide direct access to illegal .torrent files.
These two points formed the basis of The Pirate Bay's defense, but the court found them ultimately unpersuasive in its 107 page verdict. "By providing a site with, as the district court found, sophisticated search functions, easy upload and storage, and a website linked to the tracker," the defendants were guilty of assistant copyright infringement, the court said.
In an Internet press conference this morning, defendant Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi compared the whole trial to (of all things) The Karate Kid, a movie in which the good guy is roughed up by bullies, goes through a long training process, learns to "wax on, wax off," encounters his bully again in the final round of a karate tournament, and kicks him in the face with his "crane technique." Kolmisoppi sees parallels. In the end, he insists, "we'll kick their ass."
This might seem a strange position coming from someone facing a year in prison, but The Pirate Bay defendants say that this is only the first round in a lengthy process. An appeal will be filed, and the spirited rhetoric will continue. (Speaking of paying the fine, Sunde said that he "would rather burn everything I own and not even give them the dust from the burning" than pay up, even if he had the money to do so.)
The 30 million kronor judgment is reduced from the 117 million kronor fine initially sought by content owners, but it remains a significant sum. The prosecutor insisted throughout the case that the three Pirate Bay admins had grown fat on ad revenues, though the men always denied that the site was anything more than a hobby in which most of the money went to pay hosting and equipment bills.
Fourth defendant Carl Lundström, an heir to the Wasabröd cracker fortune and alleged supporter of right-wing political groups, appears to be good for the money, though his interest in The Pirate Bay was more tangential—he used his telecom company to help the site with hosting and Internet access.
International music trade group IFPI was suitably thrilled by today's news. CEO John Kennedy, who appeared as a witness during the trial, said that the case "was about defending the rights of creators, confirming the illegality of the service and creating a fair environment for legal music services that respect the rights of the creative community. Today’s verdict is the right outcome on all three counts."
The verdict itself was leaked yesterday, with the defendants first learning their fate from a journalist. "Really, it's a bit LOL," Kolmisoppi wrote on Twitter. "It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release."
It was a fitting end to this spectacle of a trial, which opened with The Pirate Bay driving a city bus up from Belgrade to Stockholm, saw the prosecutor dismiss half the charges on the first day, and featured the astonishing claim that 80 percent of the material on the site was legal.
Despite schooling Big Content on public relations throughout the trial, the defendants could not prevail in court. In comments today, Kolmisoppi argues that the whole trial was political in nature, even going so far as to call the district court a "dice court" because its verdicts are so random.
No word yet on the ultimate fate of The Pirate Bay, which at the moment remains active.
I Gotta Chill
http://checkingforelves.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-gotta-chill.html
I Gotta Chill
Herbert Barry Woodrose
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The country's wetting itself over dead teenagers in Somalia, and not asking how the fuck that all started. The AP is cheerleading a feel good campaign that most of State Media is joining in - Time, ABC, CNN, all of 'em are lining up - I heard that whacko that Jon Stewart nearly beat to death, that whacko from CNBC, declared the Depression over -
All of them are starting to get real stern about whether we really need Unions or whether we have to entertain the oligarchs for just a little longer and hope they meant what they said all those years: that we didn't need Roosevelt to create Minimum Wage, we really could've trusted the corporate Masters to take care of us. The Af-Pak war is burning brightly, banks are being encouraged to lie (again) in order to calm down the public. Mike Albert over at Z Mag had a plan for fair economics, and no one in this country is listening - he does decent business around the world it seems, but here he might as well be speaking in binary. Or Economics, for that matter, for all anyone seems to know about that subject.
I gotta chill. I'm gonna burn the hell out and there's no point to that.
I Gotta Chill
Herbert Barry Woodrose
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The country's wetting itself over dead teenagers in Somalia, and not asking how the fuck that all started. The AP is cheerleading a feel good campaign that most of State Media is joining in - Time, ABC, CNN, all of 'em are lining up - I heard that whacko that Jon Stewart nearly beat to death, that whacko from CNBC, declared the Depression over -
All of them are starting to get real stern about whether we really need Unions or whether we have to entertain the oligarchs for just a little longer and hope they meant what they said all those years: that we didn't need Roosevelt to create Minimum Wage, we really could've trusted the corporate Masters to take care of us. The Af-Pak war is burning brightly, banks are being encouraged to lie (again) in order to calm down the public. Mike Albert over at Z Mag had a plan for fair economics, and no one in this country is listening - he does decent business around the world it seems, but here he might as well be speaking in binary. Or Economics, for that matter, for all anyone seems to know about that subject.
I gotta chill. I'm gonna burn the hell out and there's no point to that.
Don't Fall For the Old Divide And Conquer Trick
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/04/dont-fall-for-old-divide-and-conquer.html
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Don't Fall For the Old Divide And Conquer Trick
The powers-that-be are trying to distract us from the looting of our wallets by the big banks by creating a left-versus-right, us-versus-them drama.
You know, the old divide-and-conquer schtick.
Americans from across the political spectrum are furious at the financial elite who have robbed us blind, and their enablers in government.
While at the moment, conservatives are getting more press, those on the left are just as angry. For example, leading progressive Glenn Greenwald wrote an essay entitled "The virtues of public anger and the need for more" cheering the fact that Americans are starting to get in touch with their righteous anger at being ripped off.
Liberals have launched their own version of the tea party protests calling for the big banks to be broken up.
And many leading economists and policy experts have thunderously railed against Obama's continuation of Bush's cover-up-the-truth, too-big-to-fail, stick-it-to-the-taxpayers approach to the economic crisis.
On the conservative side of the aisle, Ron Paul's media coordinator said that the mainstream Republican party has tried to hijack the tea party movement and has "co-opted" its message. He warns against letting the movement be diverted:
It's important the people at the grassroots level stick to our guns and say no when they try to co-opt our message....
Bringing in someone like Gingrich takes away from the message. Newt Gingrich enabled George W. Bush, he enabled the big spending...
And as Michael Rivero has written:
Beware this "left wing versus right wing" dichotomy. This is an attempt to trick us into arguing with each other instead of uniting against the common cause of our problems...
The only real divide is the one mentioned at the very top of this article. The one percent that owns it all against the 99% of us being driven into poverty. The poor against the oligarchs.
To my friends on both the left and the right, I urge you to remember that folks on the other side of the aisle are not the problem. As honest people on both the left and the right agree, the real problems are:
Lack of honest disclosure about the shenanigans of the financial giants
Failing to prosecute the criminal actions of those companies and their big wigs
Failing to break up zombie insolvent companies
Slipping trillions of dollars into the hands of the richest and most powerful companies under the table
Gaming the numbers
And continuing to pursue failed economic policies even after they've been proven counterproductive
If we fall for the divide and conquer strategy, where idiots on both sides try to focus our anger on the "other team" instead of the real culprits, we will get distracted, lose direction, and thus became easy to ignore and control. Then the powers-that-be will be able to continue pickpocketing us for years to come.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Don't Fall For the Old Divide And Conquer Trick
The powers-that-be are trying to distract us from the looting of our wallets by the big banks by creating a left-versus-right, us-versus-them drama.
You know, the old divide-and-conquer schtick.
Americans from across the political spectrum are furious at the financial elite who have robbed us blind, and their enablers in government.
While at the moment, conservatives are getting more press, those on the left are just as angry. For example, leading progressive Glenn Greenwald wrote an essay entitled "The virtues of public anger and the need for more" cheering the fact that Americans are starting to get in touch with their righteous anger at being ripped off.
Liberals have launched their own version of the tea party protests calling for the big banks to be broken up.
And many leading economists and policy experts have thunderously railed against Obama's continuation of Bush's cover-up-the-truth, too-big-to-fail, stick-it-to-the-taxpayers approach to the economic crisis.
On the conservative side of the aisle, Ron Paul's media coordinator said that the mainstream Republican party has tried to hijack the tea party movement and has "co-opted" its message. He warns against letting the movement be diverted:
It's important the people at the grassroots level stick to our guns and say no when they try to co-opt our message....
Bringing in someone like Gingrich takes away from the message. Newt Gingrich enabled George W. Bush, he enabled the big spending...
And as Michael Rivero has written:
Beware this "left wing versus right wing" dichotomy. This is an attempt to trick us into arguing with each other instead of uniting against the common cause of our problems...
The only real divide is the one mentioned at the very top of this article. The one percent that owns it all against the 99% of us being driven into poverty. The poor against the oligarchs.
To my friends on both the left and the right, I urge you to remember that folks on the other side of the aisle are not the problem. As honest people on both the left and the right agree, the real problems are:
Lack of honest disclosure about the shenanigans of the financial giants
Failing to prosecute the criminal actions of those companies and their big wigs
Failing to break up zombie insolvent companies
Slipping trillions of dollars into the hands of the richest and most powerful companies under the table
Gaming the numbers
And continuing to pursue failed economic policies even after they've been proven counterproductive
If we fall for the divide and conquer strategy, where idiots on both sides try to focus our anger on the "other team" instead of the real culprits, we will get distracted, lose direction, and thus became easy to ignore and control. Then the powers-that-be will be able to continue pickpocketing us for years to come.
Gonzales blocked prosecution of Democrat...
http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/20/gonzales-blocked-prosecution-of-democrat-who-helped-keep-lid-on-wiretapping-story/
Gonzales ‘blocked prosecution of Democrat who helped keep lid on wiretapping story’
By John Byrne
April 20, 2009
A powerful California congresswoman was allegedly caught by an NSA wiretap in 2005 pledging to intervene in an espionage case involving Israeli lobbyists, Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein revealed Sunday.
Quoting former senior Bush Administration officials, the article also alleges that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales conspired to drop criminal action against the then-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman (D-CA), because he needed her help when a firestorm of criticism erupted in December 2005 after the New York Times published details about the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program.
According to two officials privy to the events, Gonzales said he “needed Jane” to help support the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about to be exposed by the New York Times.
Harman, he told Goss, had helped persuade the newspaper to hold the wiretap story before, on the eve of the 2004 elections. And although it was too late to stop the Times from publishing now, she could be counted on again to help defend the program.
He was right.
On Dec. 21, 2005, in the midst of a firestorm of criticism about the wiretaps, Harman issued a statement defending the operation and slamming the Times, saying, “I believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.”
According to a purported NSA transcript of the call between Harman and a suspected Israeli agent — which the article says was tapped legally under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and not part of the warrantless wiretapping program itself — Harman “was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference.”
“In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win,” Stein added.
Harman allegedly hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”
Harman was not chosen to lead Intelligence. Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped Rep. Silvestre Reyes.
The AIPAC case involved two lobbyists — Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen — who were charged with trying to obtain classified reports on US policy and sharing them with reporters and foreign diplomats.
A Harman spokesman vehemently denied the allegations.
“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact,” Harman said in a statement to CQ. “I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”
In 2006, Time revealed that the FBI was investigating Harman for supposedly trying to intervene in the AIPAC case. Later reports indicated, however, that the FBI had dropped the case for “lack of evidence.”
A source “with first-hand knowledge” of the taps told Stein the “no evidence” line was “bullshit.”
“I read those transcripts,” the source is quoted as saying.
However, Ron Kampeas, the Washington, DC bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, charges that “the Harman leaks smell to high heaven.” He suggests that the leaking of the story now may have more to do with the upcoming trial of the two former AIPAC lobbyists — and the weakness of the case against them — than with any past events.
Kampeas notes in particular that “the selected quotes from the alleged transcript do not necessarily add up to a quid pro quo.” He points out that the wiretapped conversation between Harman and the Israeli agent “took place in the summer or fall of 2005? and supposedly involved a promise to have Nancy Pelosi appoint Harman as chair of the Intel Committee if the Democrats took control of the House following the 2006 elections. However, those elections were then well over a year away, and Democratic victory was by no means assured.
Greg Sargent’s The Plum Line blog carries denials from NY Times editor Bill Keller that “Harmanhad any role in persuading him to hold its big warrantless wiretapping expose until after the 2004 elections, a controversial decision that may have altered the election’s outcome and changed history.”
“Ms. Harman did not influence my decision,” Keller stated in a quote relayed to Sargent by Times spokesperson Catherine Mathis. “I don’t recall that she even spoke to me.”
Sargent writes, “If this is right, this deals the story a blow. CQ reports that Harman’s alleged efforts to get the story spiked in 2004 was a key rationale for one of the story’s most explosive charges: That Gonzales knew he could count on Harman’s support for warrantless wiretapping in 2005, and hence got a separate FBI probe against Harman dropped.”
Keller’s December 16, 2005 statement on why the paper held back the wiretaps story only mentioned “the Administration” and “[o]fficials.”
“A year ago, when this information first became known to Times reporters, the Administration argued strongly that writing about this eavesdropping program would give terrorists clues about the vulnerability of their communications and would deprive the government of an effective tool for the protection of the country’s security.
“Officials also assured senior editors of The Times that a variety of legal checks had been imposed that satisfied everyone involved that the program raised no legal questions.
“As we have done before in rare instances when faced with a convincing national security argument, we agreed not to publish at that time.
Gonzales ‘blocked prosecution of Democrat who helped keep lid on wiretapping story’
By John Byrne
April 20, 2009
A powerful California congresswoman was allegedly caught by an NSA wiretap in 2005 pledging to intervene in an espionage case involving Israeli lobbyists, Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein revealed Sunday.
Quoting former senior Bush Administration officials, the article also alleges that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales conspired to drop criminal action against the then-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman (D-CA), because he needed her help when a firestorm of criticism erupted in December 2005 after the New York Times published details about the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program.
According to two officials privy to the events, Gonzales said he “needed Jane” to help support the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about to be exposed by the New York Times.
Harman, he told Goss, had helped persuade the newspaper to hold the wiretap story before, on the eve of the 2004 elections. And although it was too late to stop the Times from publishing now, she could be counted on again to help defend the program.
He was right.
On Dec. 21, 2005, in the midst of a firestorm of criticism about the wiretaps, Harman issued a statement defending the operation and slamming the Times, saying, “I believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.”
According to a purported NSA transcript of the call between Harman and a suspected Israeli agent — which the article says was tapped legally under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and not part of the warrantless wiretapping program itself — Harman “was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference.”
“In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win,” Stein added.
Harman allegedly hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”
Harman was not chosen to lead Intelligence. Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped Rep. Silvestre Reyes.
The AIPAC case involved two lobbyists — Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen — who were charged with trying to obtain classified reports on US policy and sharing them with reporters and foreign diplomats.
A Harman spokesman vehemently denied the allegations.
“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact,” Harman said in a statement to CQ. “I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”
In 2006, Time revealed that the FBI was investigating Harman for supposedly trying to intervene in the AIPAC case. Later reports indicated, however, that the FBI had dropped the case for “lack of evidence.”
A source “with first-hand knowledge” of the taps told Stein the “no evidence” line was “bullshit.”
“I read those transcripts,” the source is quoted as saying.
However, Ron Kampeas, the Washington, DC bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, charges that “the Harman leaks smell to high heaven.” He suggests that the leaking of the story now may have more to do with the upcoming trial of the two former AIPAC lobbyists — and the weakness of the case against them — than with any past events.
Kampeas notes in particular that “the selected quotes from the alleged transcript do not necessarily add up to a quid pro quo.” He points out that the wiretapped conversation between Harman and the Israeli agent “took place in the summer or fall of 2005? and supposedly involved a promise to have Nancy Pelosi appoint Harman as chair of the Intel Committee if the Democrats took control of the House following the 2006 elections. However, those elections were then well over a year away, and Democratic victory was by no means assured.
Greg Sargent’s The Plum Line blog carries denials from NY Times editor Bill Keller that “Harmanhad any role in persuading him to hold its big warrantless wiretapping expose until after the 2004 elections, a controversial decision that may have altered the election’s outcome and changed history.”
“Ms. Harman did not influence my decision,” Keller stated in a quote relayed to Sargent by Times spokesperson Catherine Mathis. “I don’t recall that she even spoke to me.”
Sargent writes, “If this is right, this deals the story a blow. CQ reports that Harman’s alleged efforts to get the story spiked in 2004 was a key rationale for one of the story’s most explosive charges: That Gonzales knew he could count on Harman’s support for warrantless wiretapping in 2005, and hence got a separate FBI probe against Harman dropped.”
Keller’s December 16, 2005 statement on why the paper held back the wiretaps story only mentioned “the Administration” and “[o]fficials.”
“A year ago, when this information first became known to Times reporters, the Administration argued strongly that writing about this eavesdropping program would give terrorists clues about the vulnerability of their communications and would deprive the government of an effective tool for the protection of the country’s security.
“Officials also assured senior editors of The Times that a variety of legal checks had been imposed that satisfied everyone involved that the program raised no legal questions.
“As we have done before in rare instances when faced with a convincing national security argument, we agreed not to publish at that time.
NSA spied on member of Congress
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/NSA_spied_on_member_of_Congress_0416.html
NSA spied on member of Congress and broke new laws, report says
RAW STORY
Thursday April 16, 2009
An article in The New York Times detailing new violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reports that in recent months the National Security Agency has been intercepting the communications of Americans on a scale going well beyond the broad legal limits established last year by Congress.
Even more shocking, the paper reveals that under the Bush administration the NSA spied on a member of Congress and sought to wiretap the lawmaker without a warrant.
Reports the Times:
And in one previously undisclosed episode, the N.S.A. tried to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant, an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The agency believed that the congressman, whose identity could not be determined, was in contact — as part of a Congressional delegation to the Middle East in 2005 or 2006 — with an extremist who had possible terrorist ties and was already under surveillance, the official said. The agency then sought to eavesdrop on the congressman’s conversations, the official said.
The official said the plan was ultimately blocked because of concerns from some intelligence officials about using the N.S.A., without court oversight, to spy on a member of Congress.
According to the Times, the NSA unintentionally spies on many Americans because it can't distinguish between American and non-American calls as "it uses its access to American telecommunications companies’ fiber-optic lines and its own spy satellites to intercept millions of calls and e-mail messages."
The NSA's operational problems have "come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees and a secret national security court," and officials are concerned that the controversy "could damage the credibility of legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts."
The Justice Department has already issued a statement confirming the problems but insisting that it has taken "comprehensive steps to correct the situation and bring the program into compliance."
However, constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald suggests that "these widespread eavesdropping abuses enabled by the 2008 FISA bill -- a bill passed with the support of Barack Obama along with the entire top Democratic leadership in the House, including Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, and substantial numbers of Democratic Senators -- aren't a bug in that bill, but rather, were one of the central features of it."
"Everyone knew that the FISA bill which Congressional Democrats passed -- and which George Bush and Dick Cheney celebrated -- would enable these surveillance abuses," Greenwald continues. "That was the purpose of the law: to gut the safeguards in place since the 1978 passage of FISA, destroy the crux of the oversight regime over executive surveillance of Americans, and enable and empower unchecked government spying activities. This was not an unintended and unforeseeable consequence of that bill. To the contrary, it was crystal clear that by gutting FISA's safeguards, the Democratic Congress was making these abuses inevitable."
"There are exceedingly few specifics in [the Times] story detailing exactly what the abuses were," Greenwald says in conclusion "In other words, most of the information about the NSA's abuses remain concealed. We have learned only a small fraction of what took place."
NSA spied on member of Congress and broke new laws, report says
RAW STORY
Thursday April 16, 2009
An article in The New York Times detailing new violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reports that in recent months the National Security Agency has been intercepting the communications of Americans on a scale going well beyond the broad legal limits established last year by Congress.
Even more shocking, the paper reveals that under the Bush administration the NSA spied on a member of Congress and sought to wiretap the lawmaker without a warrant.
Reports the Times:
And in one previously undisclosed episode, the N.S.A. tried to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant, an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The agency believed that the congressman, whose identity could not be determined, was in contact — as part of a Congressional delegation to the Middle East in 2005 or 2006 — with an extremist who had possible terrorist ties and was already under surveillance, the official said. The agency then sought to eavesdrop on the congressman’s conversations, the official said.
The official said the plan was ultimately blocked because of concerns from some intelligence officials about using the N.S.A., without court oversight, to spy on a member of Congress.
According to the Times, the NSA unintentionally spies on many Americans because it can't distinguish between American and non-American calls as "it uses its access to American telecommunications companies’ fiber-optic lines and its own spy satellites to intercept millions of calls and e-mail messages."
The NSA's operational problems have "come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees and a secret national security court," and officials are concerned that the controversy "could damage the credibility of legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts."
The Justice Department has already issued a statement confirming the problems but insisting that it has taken "comprehensive steps to correct the situation and bring the program into compliance."
However, constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald suggests that "these widespread eavesdropping abuses enabled by the 2008 FISA bill -- a bill passed with the support of Barack Obama along with the entire top Democratic leadership in the House, including Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, and substantial numbers of Democratic Senators -- aren't a bug in that bill, but rather, were one of the central features of it."
"Everyone knew that the FISA bill which Congressional Democrats passed -- and which George Bush and Dick Cheney celebrated -- would enable these surveillance abuses," Greenwald continues. "That was the purpose of the law: to gut the safeguards in place since the 1978 passage of FISA, destroy the crux of the oversight regime over executive surveillance of Americans, and enable and empower unchecked government spying activities. This was not an unintended and unforeseeable consequence of that bill. To the contrary, it was crystal clear that by gutting FISA's safeguards, the Democratic Congress was making these abuses inevitable."
"There are exceedingly few specifics in [the Times] story detailing exactly what the abuses were," Greenwald says in conclusion "In other words, most of the information about the NSA's abuses remain concealed. We have learned only a small fraction of what took place."
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