abc13.com: Teen punished over violent video game

Get your kids out of public schools NOW.  I mean it - this is the type of racist stereotyping that passes for responsible school administration these days.  Your kids are being brainwashed into thinking about the moment, not contemplating long term consequences to their actions.

The administrators who executed this knee-jerk blasphemy should be taken out and re-educated themselves. 

And the parents of Jordan Schlafer should inform their dear young daughter that, somewhere in the records of City Hall, available for anyone to ask for, see, and copy, are the blueprints of her precious little school, part of the public record.  Also inform your little genius that anyone can see a detailed overhead view of her school on Google Maps or Live Maps.  Anyone can even see it in 3D view from any cardinal point, and draw it to scale on their own.  Then, if she's not scared enough, tell her anyone can do the same thing for her house.

Then tell her to stop being a scared little sheep and teach her think.

Link to abc13.com: Teen punished over violent video game

del.icio.us tags: government, education

Interesting Wall Street Journal OpEd

Very interesting opinion, one I agree with completely.  While I've tried to ignore everything I could about the Virginia Tech story, this one crept in - glad it did.  I was tired of ignoring all the other media bullshit about it.

Link to OpinionJournal - Featured Article

del.icio.us tags: libertarian, freedom, guns

Burlingame schools pull 8th-grade book from class

Kurt Vonnegut died on Wednesday.  And so it goes...

If it's not already abundantly clear, get your kids out of a public schools, or you'll have someone else making decisions about what and how they learn.

Link to Burlingame schools pull 8th-grade book from class

del.icio.us tags: education, censorship, literature

Will Vermont Secede from the Union?

Ignore the fact that the story comes from AlterNet, which appears to be more left that Castro.  Ignore the comments from the sheeple at the bottom - as long as they continue to get their weekly dose of American Idol, they don't care what else happens.  Read the story.

Then, realize that Vermont wants to be free, and the Free State Project is moving to New Hapmshire, right next door.  How long before they join forces?

Link to AlterNet: Will Vermont Secede from the Union?

del.icio.us tags: libertarian, government

IBM Gives Feds $45M in Translation Tech

OK, this is now officially out of hand - IBM is donating software and devices to troops in Iraq because one of their salesmen's sons was maimed while over there protecting American interests (read: Bush's lies).  Apparently, if you work for IBM and sacrifice your own blood, the company matches your donation with software.

According to one source, this donation will "accelerate the war effort", and some daft bitch in IBM's federal sales division wants other government vendors to consider "similar donations".

Well, how about non-government vendors then?  Can we persuade the Chris Craft company to send over a few hundred thousand yachts so our troops can evacuate the fucking area?  How about some publishing companies to air-drop a few hundred thousand translated copies of "The Fountainhead" (with a specially signed copy for President Bush)?

The fact that the government is checking to see if this is actually legal is actually funny - when, during this entire Iraq/al Qaeda/Guantanamo affair, has the government worried about being legal?  I'm surprised Gonzales hasn't rubber stamped it already, and wrapped in the 5th Amendment before delivering it to Bush.  They're not worried about the legality of accepting - they're worried that if they accept and the conflict drags on a lot longer, someone will start asking, "Hey, what about that translation stuff IBM gave us?".  Or maybe that question will be asked by the troops in a year when they're still waiting for the DoD to deliver the devices...

IBM wants to help the situation?  Stop helping government.  They can fuck our world up just fine without your donations.

Link to IBM Gives Feds $45M in Translation Tech

del.icio.us tags: government, technology

`Nanny' Laws Are Added to the Books - Newsday.com

Just a compilation of nanny laws coming your way.  Hope you don't get pulled over eating a donut on a metal bat while texting your friend in a child-seat of a car while smoking....

Link to `Nanny' Laws Are Added to the Books - Newsday.com

del.icio.us tags: libertarian, laws

Judge throws out Internet blocking law

Good news for the online world - a federal court threw out the COPA bill (Child Online Protection Act).  I love this quote from Senior U.S. District judge Lowell Reed Jr.:

Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection.

Brilliant.  Absolutely brilliant.  It's refreshing to see this kind of thinking in a government official - kinda makes you wonder, though...

Compare this enlightened view from an appointed official to those of your elected officials.  I'm not in favor of appointing rulers, mind you, but someone who can think for themselves is a breath of fresh air in government.

Link to Judge throws out Internet blocking law - Security - MSNBC.com

del.icio.us tags: government, internet, online, libertarian

Homeowner Upset Police Used House For Training - Yahoo! News

And here's a reason to boycott America - at least in London , they only watch what you do with your property.  Here in America, with the Kelo v. New London decision, local government can do what they will with your property whenever they want.

Link to Homeowner Upset Police Used House For Training - Yahoo! News

del.icio.us tags: government, police, libertarian

The Slippery Slope Spotted in the Wild

Civil libertarians should be boycotting England, or London at least, for this one.  The same camera technology that I've heard praised for reducing crime and leading to their peaceful way of life is now being used to turn more Londoners into "enviro-criminals", whatever the hell that means.  This is the slippery slope libertarians talk about all the time.

And this is the reason why, as much as I like Europe in general, I would never ever live there.

Link to The Sun Online - News: Spies to bug our baked beans

del.icio.us tags: government, england, europe, crime, libertarian

Court overturns D.C. handgun ban - U.S. Life - MSNBC.com

This is good news indeed, although there's a catch at the bottom of the article - I'll admit, I hadn't thought of this aspect of gun registration, but there it is:

...gun registration to provide the government with information about how many people would be armed if militia service was required...

Of course, militia service will never be required - as long as the government can instate a draft and provide guns to their conscriptees, armed citizens will never be called up.  Too bad - that's the way it should happen.  Wish I trusted my government enough to register a firearm with them.

Link to Court overturns D.C. handgun ban - U.S. Life - MSNBC.com

del.icio.us tags: guns, government, responsibility, second amendment, constitution

Kroger: No Refusing Morning-After Pill

I'm not sure why this was on PhysOrg, but there it is.  This isn't the real story, though - the real story is why Kroger has to take this action.

If your religious beliefs get in the way of doing your job, may I suggest you find a different job?  In fact, I demand you find a different job, preferably one where you don't have contact with people who don't share your silly beliefs.

And no, I don't care what your particular beliefs are - the second they get in the way of someone else living their life as they see fit, your beliefs are now instruments of repression.

And no, I don't care if you believe your intentions are good and that what you're trying to do is protect innocent life - the ends never justify the means.

Quite simply, if the only way you can express your beliefs is by forcibly preventing others from acting in ways inconsistent with your beliefs, you're no longer a simple harmless Christian living according to your faith...

You are evil.

Link to Kroger: No Refusing Morning-After Pill

del.icio.us tags: religion, birth control, christianity

Help us spot terrorists - Police - News - Manchester Evening News

Don't go to Manchester, England.  Or if you must, make sure you:

• Tell everyone exactly where you're going at all times.
• Try not to make car rental agents suspicious (no word on how not to do that)
• Don't pay cash for anything, especially short-term rental on a room (or possible car rentals)

Remember folks, the citizens of Manchester have been told by their police chief that they don't have to be sure, just suspicious.  No word on whether being paranoid, xenophobic, or simply racist count as well.

And for those of you in U.S. wondering what the big deal is, here it is: I've been assured on numerous occasions by an American friend who lived in England for many years that British policemen are rarely to never questioned as to their authority to ask you do anything.  The average British citizen walks the streets ignorant of their rights and emasculated in their power to resist unjust flexing of police muscle.  In other words, what Americans look at as simply a police force being silly and stupidly paranoid may come off in England as a stern warning, almost a command, to be vigilant.

For those of you in Manchester, I'm sorry - you can leave, if you'd like. 

Link to Help us spot terrorists - Police - News - Manchester Evening News

del.icio.us tags: government, terrorism, britain, england, big brother

Vigilante Hacker's Evidence Puts Judge Behind Bars - Technology News by InformationWeek

Read the story, but here's a short summary: A judge in Cali was sentenced for possession of child pornography.  The prime mover in this case was a hacker who let loose a Trojan on the judge's computers and found the evidence that was used to garner the guilty plea.

I'm not sure whether to be scared or not here.  Vigilantes with time on their hands, an axe to grind, and some coding skills rooting around in my machine for contraband?  While I agree that the hacker was not acting on behalf of the government and therefore did not violate the Fourth Amendment, that line can get really blurry really quick.  Let's say the evidence found pointed to a victimless crime (drug usage, prostitution, etc), something that is defined as illegal, but has no victim other than the amorphous "society".  At what point can any hacker-vigilante say he's not an agent of the government?  If you drink the government Kool-Aid, decide to be a vigilante P-I, and follow only your muse to the criminals that turn you on, the only thing missing from a Fourth Amendment violation is a prior government blessing.

And by not prosecuting the hacker (they've already found and ID'd him - Brian Willman in Canada), they're setting a very bad precedent.  As mentioned in the article, the tacit approval given opens the door for anyone to do the same thing for any reason as long as the evidence found leads to a conviction.  And while a U.S. Attorney has admonished people with a variation of "Don't try this at home, kids", that carries zero weight - we've already erased the old line and now have to figure out where to draw it again.  Until the new line is drawn, there will be people trying to push it further and further away from due process and privacy concerns, and closer to a Machiavellian "ends-justifies-the-means" interpretation of illegal activity.

Brad Willman, the hacker in this case, needs to be brought up on charges - let him argue and negotiate and plea-bargain, but he needs to be charged and go through the process he set the judge up for.  We go after hackers and pirates in other countries all the time - why can't we go to Canada to get this guy?  And no, I don't care that he did us all a service (I agree he did, but that's not the point) - the next guy caught in this kind of net may be only a political subversive, or maybe just unpopular.  Why does Willman get to decide who has fingers pointed at them?

And in case you're still on the fence, let me pose the question differently - what if Willman had broken into your home, rummaged around while you weren't home looking for "contraband", and then setup hidden cameras so he could do so whenever he wanted to?  His Trojan did exactly that in the judge's computer.  Now ask yourself if you want your busy-body neighbor to be able to do the same, and it's all OK as long as they find something to charge you with.

OK, now I'm scared.

Link to Vigilante Hacker's Evidence Puts Judge Behind Bars - Technology News by InformationWeek

del.icio.us tags: government, technology, crime, canada, constitution, california, blogs

White House opposes war authority limits - Politics - MSNBC.com

I'll have more to say on this later - gut reaction is that everyone wants power, red or blue, and neither side will give it up willingly.

Link to White House opposes war authority limits - Politics - MSNBC.com

UPDATE: OK, I lied here - I don't have much more to say.  It's a power stuggle, plain and simple, and should have a net result of zero on the rank and file soldier in Iraq.

Disturbing state lawmaking news

I'll comment more later, but here's some disturbing state lawmaking news.

Arizona Lawmaker Tries To Ban Naked Lady Mudflaps

No Bull: Lawmaker Wants Testicles Tossed

UPDATE: OK, both of these should be filed in the "all-other-more-important-problems-solved" department.

Rep. Ed Ableser in Arizona is the worst kind of politician - a busy-body who wants all of America to be as clean and sanitized as the Hallmark channel.  One of his supporters, Rep. Theresa Ulmer, obviously needs to take her son to a doctor, as he's either mentally retarded or partially deaf if she continually needs to explain the difference between idealized art and reality.  Has her son never seen a Barbie doll?  Why doesn't that idealized depiction of female anatomy confuse him.  And if it does confuse him, shall we try to pass a law banning them too, or just force stores to put them behind the counter next to the lighter fluid and cold medicine?

As for the bull balls story, Maryland State Delegate LeRoy Myers is a coward, hiding behind the standard statist shield of "we're protecting hte children".  How does Delegate Myers propose to keep children from seeing real animal testicles, say, on an un-neutered dog walking down the street?  There's an age at which kids don't need a full and complete explanation - a simple "they're decoration" should work on most any kid under 10.  I'll leave the explanation for kids over 10 as an exercise to the parent.

For both of these stories, take one lesson - life cannot be sanitized to protect anyone, especially your children.  You can either lock your kids in a Skinner box to keep them safe, or prepare them for life in the real world.  The loss of innocence is tragic, true, but necessary, and you as the parent have to be in control.  In other words: grow up, so your kids can too.

del.icio.us tags: government, laws

The Darkness Falls

We've all heard about the overreaction of the city of Boston to a guerilla marketing campaign for a cartoon show.  Today, we learn that the head of Cartoon Network is resigning over it.  And today, I'm going to comment on it.

Boston should slip into the sea.  Cleanse the idiocy with cold salt water and lobsters.  I'm sorry to say I lived there for a time, went to school there for a time, and enjoyed it - I'll certainly never go back now.

What happened to our collective common sense, people?  Ever since 9/11, were' so afraid of our own shadows that anyone walking down the street with a boxcutter in his back pocket, or two turbaned and robed men talking to one another quietly in the subway, or a Lite Brite on a street corner, is now considered a terrorist threat that demands some sort of response.  I guess we're lucky that the response was just a bunch of paranoid morons calling the authorities, and not some whack-job rounding up a vigilante posse.  Funny, I don't feel lucky - I feel dirty.

Turner Broadcasting, owner of Cartoon Network, apologized and has paid US$2 million to Boston to compensate them for the emergency response they took.  I'm sorry, but if I overreact to a situation and incur personal costs, why should anyone else but me be responsible for my actions?  Oh, that's right, I forgot - this is the New America, where personal responsibility is neither taught nor practiced.  Those few of us with this rare commodity are sitting back, shaking our heads, and wondering where the hell our country got off to.

Our elected leaders have paid lip service for five years that we should not lose the American Way of Life (tm) because of terrorism.  All this time, however, the American Way of Life has been slowly slipping away, slowly boiling to death like a frog in a pot of cool water over a Bunsen burner, as we submit to random searches and pat down on subways, invasive searches of our bags and limits on our speech as we try to board airplanes, and compilation of our personal data into lists that tell us where and how we can't travel.  We've lost our common sense to fear-based irrationality wrapped in the blanket of "security concerns".  We've lost our rational thought and replaced with jingoism.  We've lost our sense of humour and replaced it with self-importance as a cog in the great machine.

In my opinion, the head of Cartoon Network should still be in his role, and the head of Turner Broadcasting shouldn't be writing checks.  They should both be looking at the knee-jerkers and bureaucrats in Boston and asking them, "Why is your stupidity our problem?  Why should we pay for your actions?  Stupidity should be painful - more correctly, your stupidity should be painful to you."  And the people of Boston should be looking hard and asking hard questions at these mental midgets come next election day.

New York, The Nanny State (East)

New York State Senator Carl Kruger is planning to propose legislation that would make it illegal to cross the street in New York City and Buffalo while using an electronic device, like a cell phone, Blackberry, iPod, or Zune.  Apparently, Sen. Kruger is very concerned that two recent fatal accidents involving people in his district who were using said devices are an epidemic and needs some sort of government response.  No word on whether his district (District 27 in Brooklyn) has been gerrymandered to include Buffalo.

For a sensible alternative, check out the Nanny State from the Cato Institute.  And while your at it, take a look at some of the legislation Sen. Kruger is working on...  An informed citizen is a politician's worst nightmare.

And if you live in Sen. Kruger's district, use your feet, go to a poll next election day, and send him a message that he's not your freaking mother, you're a responsible adult, you resent being treated like a pre-schooler, and he can stay out out of your personal life as you vote him out of the public life, thankyouverymuch.

Just for kicks, ride the bike you work on to the voting booth, and make sure you carry a boxcutter and a copy of the Constitution with you (highlight the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments).

Ad hominem comments follow: Doesn't the phrase "plans to propose legislation" make your butt pucker?

New York and Masschussetts are now, officially, the East Coast cells of the Soviet State of California.  Remember folks, when the pain of the Nanny State spanking your ass gets too much, the porcupines are moving to New Hampshire.

UPDATE: ECanadaNow is reporting that three Brooklyn-ites were killed crossing the street with iPods, not one in Brooklyn and one in Buffalo as reported by WNBC.  Not sure who to believe or listen to, but now I'm wondering if Kruger will start handing out $100 fines for running with scissors or swimming within 30 minutes of eating as well...

UPDATE #2: Reuters has the story now, along with some more "nanny state" quotes from Comrade Senator Kruger:

Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry

Maybe in New York, it does, but in America as a whole, the Preamble to the Constitution defines what government should do - protecting its citizenry isn't one of those things.

It's becoming a nationwide problem.

This electronic gadgetry is ... becoming ... endemic...

Endemic?  Nationwide problem?  Where are the scores of reports of others suffering as three Brooklynites have?  I haven't seen them - tell me, if this is such an endemic problem, Senator, are there more people dying from other problems in Brooklyn, or is this numero uno on the list?

Then there's the problem I have with the sympathetic Reuters reporter, who is uncreditted in this story - this paragraph is editorializing, not reporting (emphasis mine).

Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes.

If he was the only reporter to bias his reporting, it wouldn't be an issue, but he and the Senator are just two examples of an endemic nationwide problem.

New Toyota Commercials - WTF?

I wasn't sure where else to put this idea, but I've been really pissed at the new Toyota commercials.  Despite the fact that I'll most likely never buy a Toyota for my own use (my daughter has one I bought her when she graduated high school), these commercials ensure that I'll never buy one for anyone.

The commercials start innocuous enough - a few pics of scenery and people enjoying themselves, with a song-over with the lyrics, "This is the place I want to live... And the

way I want to drive..."  I can only presume they're tailored for different parts of the country - I live in Seattle, so it's tailored for the Pacific Northwest.

Anyway, after the song lyric, a voice-over comes on, in a gentle masculine voice, "There's something special about this part of the country," followed by different phrases, such as, "we care about the environment," and, "we care about family values."

WTF?

My first response to these was simple: Unlike those yahoo's in Montana.

Really, think about it - as if people in other parts of the country don't care about the environment, or have family values, or can respond to jingoistic marketing catch-phrases.  Give me a break.

Technorati tags: driving, marketing

Responsibility

Do you know the primary way you can tell if someone is a responsible adult?  Watch them drive.  If they drive responsibly (in other words, with purpose, on purpose, and predictably), most likely they act responsibly as well.  Case in point - one small episode from one day of my morning commute this week.

Normally, I ride a motorcycle - a 1996 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide to me exact.  However, since the wind storm and freak snow storms Washington had since December, I've been driving my 2003 Mercury Sable to work.  This necessitates a change in my route, and my introduction to non-HOV travel on our fine state highways.

I found myself behind a large SUV on the I-90 floating bridge.  The time was about 8:30am, and we were heading east into the sun.  the sun wasn't too high, but it wasn't that low either - I personally had no problems seeing (at least seeing the SUV, but that's another rant).

The driver in the SUV, however, was having no end of trouble, from what I could see - first the left hand came up to shield their eyes, then the right (apparently, they got tired easily).  At one point, I thought the driver had their eyes closed and head down to avoid the bright light - from the movements the SUV was making, it appeared that way.  The SUV finally moved out of the left hand lane into the center lane, and I passed on the right.

When I did, I looked over to see who was driving - it turned out to be a very small woman.  Her head topped out at only halfway up the window, just about over the steering wheel.  Even with the visor down the she sat so low in the vehicle, the sun had no choice but to hit her in the eyes.

And here's where the responsibility comes in - don't buy a vehicle that's too big for you.  If you pull the visor down and sun still hits you in the eyes, either buy some sunglasses or drive a freakin' Miata.  I'm tired of the desire for a big expensive status symbol outweighing the need to act responsibly.  Sure, you can buy it, but if you can't drive it, you're no longer an important person - now you're one overcorrection away from being the "earlier accident that has traffic snarled."

Yes, I hate SUV's.  And No, there oughtn't be a law against them.

Technorati tags: driving, responsibility

Zune Marketing via Orwell

OK, this isn't politics per se, but I have to get it off my chest.  The Microsoft Zune marketing campaign is disturbing me greatly.

There are two ads I've seen for the Zune that make me think the marketing folks at Microsoft have taken George Orwell's 1984 and turned into a reference manual.

The first ad has text which reads, "Welcome to the Social".  The second ad reads, "Anti-antisocial".  Both are anti-anti-bullshit.

I remember when I was a teenager - Sony had introduced the Walkman a few years earlier, and I had a competitor's version.  I used to walk around wearing headphones and listening to mix-tapes I made or maybe a purchased album.  At no time did I think I was being social - as a matter of fact, I knew, and was told often, that wearing headphones was antisocial.  Well, duh, of course it's antisocial - when I'm on the bus, or a plane, or waiting around in public, it's easier to put on my music, open my book, and tune out everyone else.  Being social means interacting with other folks around you - I was doing the opposite.

The Walkman for the new millennium is the iPod, and one of its competitors is the Zune.  The technology has changed, but the result is the same - you plug in earphones and listen to your music and tune out the people around you.  It's no more social than the Walkman, or the Discman, or any other technology that diverts one or more of your senses away from the folks around you.  It's never been "social".  It's never been "anti-antisocial".  And that's the disturbing part...

Microsoft appears to be trying to twist the meaning of putting on a set of headphones and listening to your own personal soundtrack as "social" instead of antisocial.  Much like Orwell's doublespeak, Microsoft marketing is trying to pull a fast one on us.

Don't believe the hype - buy the player you want for the features it has, not for the hype.  Listening to music on an MP3 player, or a Walkman, or Discman, or whatever, is not, has never been, and will never be "social".  It will always be antisocial.  And it matters not one whit what a marketer redefines words to mean.

Technorati tags: marketing