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May 30, 2002 Goosestepping into the future New FBI to Monitor Websites, Libraries, Churches:
The new rules will allow agents to surf the Internet for Web sites that might give hints to terrorist activity, according to the description. The new guidelines will allow investigators to seek out and "identify sites and forums in which bomb-making instructions, preparations for cyberterrorism, child pornography, and stolen credit card information are openly traded and disseminated."
posted by chris at 02:19 AM | talk back (0) Cheney = Corrupt
sonofabitch
Apparently, while Dick Cheney was at the helm of oil exploration giant, Halliburton, raking in the dough his company engaged in the same economic strategy as Enron. In fact, the toothless SEC is investigating the 'fuzzy math' Halliburton used when cooking its books.
posted by chris at 02:03 AM | talk back (0) May 29, 2002 Legal Pot Leads to Less Crime Well, duh. Decriminalizing marijuana in London leads to 50% less violent crime in just six months from the BBC posted by chris at 05:11 PM | talk back (0) May 25, 2002 DVD code breakers: Copyright in a High Tech World Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of Copyrights and Copywrongs, faces off against MPAA demon Fritz Attaway, the Executive Vice President and Washington General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. on the NPR program Justice Talking. Fascinating. posted by chris at 07:45 PM | talk back (0) May 24, 2002 Venezuelan coup leader flees BBC: Carmona, coup-leader and president for a day, is seeking asylum in Colombia. They need to get his ass back and throw the book at him. No doubt the US will attempt to make him safe possibly flying him to the US or a third country. posted by chris at 09:22 PM | talk back (0) Simulacra and
Simulation
Pretty nice article. Makes me want to read that book.
This apocalyptic message owes something to the work of the science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick (1928-82), a cult figure who wrote extensively about the moral problems that result when the distinctions between the natural and synthetic began to blur through cloning, artificial intelligence and android technology. Mr. Dick foresaw a future in which synthetic beings were mass-produced to be used as soldiers, assassins, Stepford-style love slaves and synthetic families next door, manufactured to keep settlers company when humans colonize other planets. His most widely known novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" — made into the wildly successful film "Blade Runner" — centered on synthetic beings that escape servitude to pass as human, only to be tracked down and "retired" by a bounty killer. Hollywood's indifference to the moral fine points was evident by the way it changed the plot. The bounty killer in Mr. Dick's novel returns home to a realistically problematic marriage and a flesh-and-blood wife. In the movie, he falls in love and runs away with a synthetic woman manufactured by a firm whose motto is "More human than human." Since "Blade Runner," erotic involvement between humans and androids has evolved into a new form of soft-core cinema porn. The hero of "The Matrix," played by Keanu Reeves, has the dignity to decline when offered an intimate digital encounter with a virtual blonde. This is a nice touch — and one of many references to Mr. Baudrillard's theories — but not enough to keep the movie from succumbing to the techno- and cyber-chauvinism that the philosopher hammers away at in "Simulacra and Simulation."
posted by chris at 09:18 PM | talk back (0) NMRPS Demands on
Pearl Video
I wonder what's behind the FBI's attempts to prevent the dissemination of the Pearl execution video. Does it have anything to do with the NMRPS (National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistan Sovereignity) demands at the end of the video? Are they just carrying out orders from the corporate paymasters at Dow Jones, the owners of the Wall Street Journal where Pearl was employed? Or, are they worried that viewing this video will muddy the waters of this issue? Why should we fear information? The public can only be expected to make the best decisions once it has all the information. Like I said previously, if anything this video holds the potential to galvanize people around the world against terrorism. NMRPS demands stated in the video:
posted by chris at 06:30 PM | talk back (2) WTO Statistics: World
Slavery
Some staggering statistics from the Anti-WTO site www.gatt.org:
The poorest 49 countries make up 10% of the world’s population, but account for only 0.4% of world trade. This disparity has been growing. 70% of world trade is controlled by large multinational corporations; this percentage has steadily increased over the past twenty years. The richest fifth have 80% of the world’s income and the poorest fifth have 1%; this gap has doubled between 1960 and 2000. (Human Development Report, UNDP 1999) In almost all countries that have undertaken rapid trade liberalisation, wage inequality has increased—20-30% fall in wages in some Latin American countries. (UNCTAD 1997) Even in the First World, the gap between upper executive and worker salaries has never bigger. The gap is enormously huger, and is defended in theoretical terms. Top 100 transnational corporations increased assets 697% between 1980 and 1995. At the same time employment in these corporations went down. Nearly every single environmental or public health law challenged at the WTO has been ruled illegal. While it is likely that many should legitimately have been ruled illegal as they were, the fact that so few have gotten through has led us to question the validity of our processes. A matter of perspective helps. On September 11, 3000 people died in the towers as a result of terrorism. On the same day, 24,000 people died of hunger, 6,020 children were killed by diarrhoea, and 2,700 children were killed by measles on that day. posted by chris at 05:11 PM | talk back (0) Naked
chickens
An Israeli scientist has developed a featherless chicken. This thing looks just wrong. He says he's 'just helping evolution'. Everyday, I'm more and more glad I gave up eating meat. What's next boneless chickens, headless chickens, vat-grown chickens, hairless cows, walking steaks? Something about this is seriously fucked up.
posted by chris at 04:51 PM | talk back (0) Dave Berg dead at
81
I haven't read Mad Magazine since I was in my early teens and at that point it was an obsession. I still have a large box of them stuffed in my closet. Dave Berg produced 'The Lighter Side of...' almost through the entire history of Mad Magazine. He missed the first four years as Mad started in 1952 and he joined in 1956. One of the best things about the "The Lighter Side" was that Berg would often draw Mad celebrities in his drawings and it was a good opportunity for a fan like me to get an impression of how the 'Usual Gang of Idiots' were in real life. Thanks for the memories!
posted by chris at 04:21 PM | talk back (0) World gets more
Dickian
From The Economist, The future of mind control:
Yet neuroscientists have been left largely to their own devices, restrained only by standard codes of medical ethics and experimentation. This relative lack of regulation and oversight has produced a curious result. When it comes to the brain, society now regards the distinction between treatment and enhancement as essentially meaningless. Taking a drug such as Prozac when you are not clinically depressed used to be called cosmetic, or non-essential, and was therefore considered an improper use of medical technology. Now it is regarded as just about as cosmetic, and as non-essential, as birth control or orthodontics. American legislators are weighing the so-called parity issue—the argument that mental treatments deserve the same coverage in health-insurance plans as any other sort of drug. Where drugs to change personality traits were once seen as medicinal fripperies, or enhancements, they are now seen as entitlements. posted by chris at 03:29 PM | talk back (1) Buy this
mp3
If you want a music format that is more flexible and lacks watermarks and can be copied repeatedly then you should really encourage record labels and artists to sell their music in mp3 format by buying the Meshell mp3 from Maverick Records. My guess is depending on how well the sale goes they may make more of their records available for sale in this manner. I paid the .99$. Of course, I don't like Meshell, but some of my friends might and it's a good use for .99$. I think if more companies sold mp3s everyone would benefit. posted by chris at 03:23 PM | talk back (0) Pearl
Video
As expected the Pearl video was taken off Yahoo Geocities..I'll be putting it here or up at another Geocities site or somewhere else entirely. As a free people we must oppose all government intimidation and censorship. The Freedom of Speech is always tested by situations like this. This will have to wait until I get home tonight. I didn't actually have a copy at home, so I had to email to my home address. There will be a link here. Download the Pearl Execution Video Here. posted by chris at 03:18 PM | talk back (0) Government Spooks
Dropped the Ball
From the LA Times on FBI/CIA incompetence. Funny how John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial airlines when these memos were floating around. He had warning, but didn't think the American public should enjoy the same privilege:
posted by chris at 12:55 AM | talk back (0) Right-wing Rag Run by
Rev.
This is too funny. I forgot Rev. Sun Moon owns the conservative The Washington Times. This is kind of like how Rupert Murdoch owner of right-wing Fox News is a big supporter of the oppressive Communist Chinese government. All I want is some consistency. Is this too much to ask?
During the sermon, he set the course for the Times' next 10 years: "The Washington Times is responsible to let the American people know about God." Later, he added: "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world." ... The charges were not helped by allegations of former reporters, who say stories were changed to favor conservatives; by editors who quit, claiming church tampering; or by obscurity surrounding the paper's finances. It has been years since many of those incidents, though, and five years since Moon's last mass wedding in Washington, which inevitably pulled the Times into scrutiny. For the past few years, the Times has enjoyed a relatively Moon-free zone. posted by chris at 12:43 AM | talk back (0) FBI bullies ISPs to
stop Pearl video
I've seen the Pearl execution video. As soon as I can I'll make it available for downloading just because I don't think the government should have any right to stop me from viewing what I want. Certainly, as horrible and disgusting as the video is you can see worse things on rotten.com, and it does reflect the horrors of violence. I think if we were confronted with the gruesome images of warfare and terrorism more often violent military or terrorist actions would lose support. Pearl's Pakistani executioners certainly displayed an inhuman degree of brutality and cold-bloodedness. I'm curious as to why the FBI would try to stop this video when it does everything to galavanize the public against violent Islamic extremists. From the Wired News article:
"I said that of course I can't release anything without a subpoena," Hickman said. "They said they needed the content offline as soon as possible. I called back and I spoke to both him and his supervisor. Both assured me that it was illegal to post anything related to obscenity." Sandra Carroll, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Newark office, said "the local office did investigate certain aspects" of the Internet distribution of the Pearl video. Carroll said she was not that familiar with the investigation, and only knew that "some type of law was quoted in terms of a violation." Carroll said she would investigate what charges, if any, could be filed. The contours of the FBI's investigation are anything but clear. A 1996 federal obscenity law exists, but it only applies to work that "appeals to the prurient interest" -- and Pearl's video, as disturbing as it might be, is hardly sexual. Seeking to spin the story Wired News received the following from an FBI spokesperson ie. a professional liar.
Download the Pearl Execution Video Here. posted by chris at 12:28 AM | talk back (1) Thinking about
joining the military?
The NY Times had a story today about how the Pentagon recently released documents detailing their spraying of nerve agents and biological agents on US servicemen. Classy. You join up for a shitty job in the military thinking you're doing your patriotic duty and then your own government purposely acts with disregard for your life by using you as a human guinea pig.
posted by chris at 12:10 AM | talk back (0) May 23, 2002 Back from Las Vegas I'm back from my trip to Vegas. Wow. Never had so much fun losing money. posted by chris at 06:56 PM | talk back (0) Do any of you remember the little short features that
would come on during Pinwheel on Nickelodeon? It was in the mid to late
eighties. There was the rabbit with the telescope who would fly around and
help sad children, and of course there was Simon and his adventures in the
blackboard land. I've been interested lately in the short films, Chapi
Chapo. They are fantastic. I've put up some images, video, and music to
expose anyone who hasn't seen it. You should really check it out.
Chapi Chapo page & downloads (video, music, images) Questions? Complaints?
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