July 2006 Archives

After a busy day moving, while I was driving to Giant tonight to get juice and milk and cereal for the morning; travelling the old familiar routes I'd driven for nearly 13 years of my life; I had a funny taste in my mouth. I couldn't stop frowning. Heather's breathing was unsettled and she fidgeted in her seat, as she picked at a bug bite on her leg. I couldn't think of anything to say, but I kept trying to say something to acknowledge the unsettling in my stomach. I must have flapped my mouth open and shut a few times because Heather turned to me and said "It feels weird to be home, doesn't it?"

I got the following snippet in the bottom of a piece of spam this afternoon:

...and waved a smoke-stained flamethrower in the direction of the door. I
followed Commander Alphamega out, leaving Floyd prisoner in the chair.
Not for long, I hoped, if Fido-Aida had understood my suggestions.

If I'm not mistaken, that's ripped straight from the pages of Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure, somewhere in the 21st chapter. Shame on you spammers, trying to lend an air of truthiness and gravitas to your unsolicited attempt to sell me fake Rolex watches for the "best prijces online".

But, in true Colbert style, I have to give you a tip of the hat for picking some choice material to attach to the emails.

I came across this article from the Attorney General of Virginia. He's speaking about the Ninth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which states:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

It means that just because there are some rights listed in the Bill of Rights, it doesn't mean that those are our ONLY RIGHTS. This may sound academic, but consider that a lot of people speak about a right to privacy, but it's not directly outlined in the Bill of Rights. It descends from the Ninth Amendment. The right to travel, the right to work in the job they choose, the right to own a business, these all descend from the Ninth Amendment. Some, including myself, would even claim that the right to self-medicate, including with currently illicit drugs, comes from the Ninth Amendment.

Most politicians and courts say the Ninth Amendment has no power and no authority in the world today, so it's nice to see a high-ranking official, like the Attorney General of a state, to argue that it is still valid.

Chicago has passed a "Living Wage Act" which they state will help pull people out of poverty by requiring all big-box retailers operating within the city limits to pay their employees a minimum of $10/hour. Sounds great doesn't it? Especially in a place like Chicago, where prices are higher anyway!

Wrong. Wal-Mart doesn't have any stores within the city of Chicago, and the are in the process of building their first one. Now that this law has been passed, they've announced they may not build any more in the city, but instead "redirect our focus on our suburban strategy and see how we could better serve our city of Chicago residents from suburban Chicagoland" (source: Washington Post. In that same complex that Wal-Mart was being built, on the poor West Side of Chicago, another big box retailer, Menards Hardware, was going to build a store to share space with Wal-Mart. They're now announcing they may not build in Chicago after all. (source: NPR's All Things Considered - Audio Clip

Some of the residents in the area said they don't like the law because it drives the stores away. One gentleman said "A low-paying job is better than a no-paying job". How right you are sir. The alderman who sponsored the bill said that it's terrible that people can work all day and still not lift themselves out of poverty, and NO ONE likes poverty, but what they've done is say to these businesses that they're not welcome. It sounds callous and terrible, but businesses exist to make money, and if they can make the same amount of money sitting in the suburbs paying $3/hour less, they're going to do it, and take those 450 or more jobs with them.

I think it's a shame what Chicago has done. Hopefully Richard Daley will veto this bill as promised.

I sent an email to PBS Sprout ( a joint venture between PBS, Comcast, and HIT Entertainment from England ) about the firing of Melanie Martinez. I sent them this email:

I wanted to take a moment to let you know that the firing of Melanie Martinez for those two spoofed PSAs is unjustified. Melanie is a sweet girl who had a real rapport with my kids and was a joy to have on in the evenings if we’re letting the kids watch TV. I think that PBS has always shown itself to be a little counter-cultural to begin with and that you guys should return her to her post.

Thank you for your time.

This morning I got the following response:

We understand that you are disappointed with the recent changes to The Good Night Show, and we too are saddened that we had to make this difficult decision. Our foremost priority is to do what is best for our young viewers and those who love them, and we will continue to provide the quality programming you and your children have come to expect from PBS KIDS Sprout.
Thank you.

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly on this.

However, it is my belief that you have made the wrong decision, as I indicated below. Melanie was an important part of the good night rituals of not only my children, but many children around the country and without warning or preparation you have removed her, causing lots of children pain and sadness. The least you could have done was let her departure be an orderly one, with enough time for the parents of sproutlets to prepare their kids. Now we have to scramble to explain why she’s no longer a part of their lives. On the whole, however, I think your decision to remove her was silly because I have no worry that my toddlers would be able to find those movies on the internet, or have any idea what they’re talking about in those two short movies.

I think that by removing her so suddenly you’ve caused more harm to children than by leaving her in place.

Thank you for your time.

I'm not one to normally claim that we need to shield our children from all harm and pain. You can't nerf the world. Still, toddlers are big on routine and ritual. They build their lives around the sameness. That's why a child can eat chicken nuggets every day for two months and NEVER get tired of it. Ritual and routine for toddlers makes them feel safe, helps them to grow up strong, and to feel secure in and of themselves. And as a parent I want to help them maintain their rituals and shield my kids from disruption.

But it's not just that. I think that Melanie Martinez is being done a great diservice in being let go. I think it's an injustice and I don't like it. I support willful employment laws and I understand that PBS Sprout has the right to let her go for just about any reason they see fit, but I'm not going to like it, and I'm going to keep writing to PBS Sprout and here to voice my ire.

I love Steve Burns, and have for a while, I guess since my kids fell in love with him on Blues Clues. There are some characters that make toddlers happy (like Barney or the Teletubbies) that parents never like, period. But I've yet to find a parent that did not at least appreciate Steve in some fashion, if not outright adore him. There are rumored to be secret cabals of soccer moms that seek to dominate him, but that's another story.

I was excited about his album of rock music "Song for Dustmites" and I listen to the album a lot, usually in a mix with The Flaming Lips, who helped Steve make his album, and Cloud Cult, all of which are similar in tone and philosophy. So imagine my pleasure when I saw that Steve Burns has a new song available on the "Hello Radio" They Might Be Giants tribute album (Amazon link and iTunes Link). While the album itself is getting panned, I think his cover of "Dead" is great, and it's entered heavy rotation. It's got the same dreamy, spacey, wistful, and slightly hallucinogenic feel to it. It also has hints of electronica beats and blips to it, which I also enjoy. It reminds me a lot of Thom Yorke's new album, which is not surprising as Steve has said before that he's a huge Radiohead fan. It's absolutely worth the $0.99 if you're a fan of TMBG, Steve Burns, or The Flaming Lips.

Kudos Steve!

I wanted to talk about this earlier but BoingBoing beat me to the punch. Oh well.

For those that don't know, The Good Night Show appears on PBS Sprout (a channel devoted to toddler programming 24 hours a day 7 days a week (some would classify that as near hell on Earth, but I've made my peace with it)). It is, as the CNN article reports, soothing and mild shows that help a toddler get ready to go to bed. Melanie Martinez is the host of the show, and she's essentially the baby sitter that comes in the house through your TV and talks to your toddler and reads them stories, etc.

Seven years ago, Ms. Martinez made two PSAs that spoofed the pro-abstinence PSAs that used to float around. The one advocates "anal sex" because you're still technically a virgin after it. The other advocates mothers giving their daughters vibrators because they won't want to have sex if they get to use one. They're silly and juvenile and shouldn't be held againt Melanie, but PBS and Comcast are firm in their stance of not letting her on the show.

I think it's a shame that PBS Sprout let her go for this. Lots of toddlers know and love Melanie and she's not the first PBS personality to do something "not appropriate for children". Sonia Manzano, who plays Maria on Sesame Street, recently appeared in the Vagina Monologues.

If you too feel like it's a pile of shit, write to PBS Sprout here: info@sproutletsgrow.com. More information about PBS Sprout can be found here: http://www.sproutletsgrow.com/about.html.

Hugo Chavez travelled to the Belarus and formed a pact with Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko (known as the last dictator in Europe and previous winner of the "Name Sounds Most Like a Tom Clancy Character" Competition) to defeat American imperialism. And while I'm not one to claim we're not imperialistic in this country, this meeting's laughable to me. It's like brussel sprouts met with the rutabega and formed an alliance against the hot dogs. Am I implying we're processed sausage stuffed with remnants of mystery meat, spiced heavily, and prone to giving people heartburn? Yeah, I guess I am.

For more information on Alexander Rutabega...I mean, Lukashenko, you can check out his wikipedia entry. I'd point you to his LiveJournal but it reads the same every day: "Spent the day whipping dissidents. Lots of fun. Hope to do more tomorrow."

The Indian Blog Ban is not over. Apparently the ISPs in India sought to comply with an order issued by the government that banned several inflammatory Hindu websites ( I know I already said this but I was just reiterating it again ).

The Indian government has finally broken its silence on the ban and issued the following brief press release (text below):

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has instructed all the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country to block only the specified website/webpages on the parent website. The DoT, in its letter issued to all the ISPs has mentioned that it had come to notice that in some cases the parent website had been blocked in contravention to what was stated in its earlier order dated 13th July 2006 whereby it ordered the ISPs to block certain websites/webpages.

As such the DoT has now directed all the ISPs to strictly comply with the order dated 13th July 2006 and provide unhindered access to Internet except for the websites/webpages which have been specifically mentioned in its orders issued from time to time.

The DoT has further sought explanation from the erring ISPs as to why action be not taken against them for blocking unintended websites/webpages.

RM/AMA- 200706 Webpages blocking

I still find it amazing that a country like India, the largest democracy on Earth, filled with so many different people, languages, and religions, would seek to limit people's access to information, inflammatory or not.

Rediff and others are reporting an end to the ban on blogs in India. Apparently the ban was originally intended to prevent certain hardcore hindu sites from spreading hate, but the ISPs ended up banning all sorts of legitiate traffic as well.

Well, I hope common sense will prevail and the Indian government will realize that the freest of speech is the best kind of speech and make some speech illegal because it upsets some people accomplishes nothing.

Bush hasn't used a veto in the almost 6 years he's been in office, until now. Bush has vetoed the bill that would allow federal funding for research on stem cells derived from frozen embryos that are going to be discarded anyway.

The thing about this that absolutely frustrates me is that this action, this veto, was done in the name of protecting life, done out of a concern for the sanctity of life. But it's a sanctimonious pile of shit.

Those who claim to be protecting life through these actions are more interested in protecting the potential of life rather than lives that exist today. That's why the nascent potential life of an embryo is more important than the lives of people who are alive and suffering now but could benefit from stem cell research. That's why protecting the potential future lives of children is used to prevent people who are suffering from using things like medical marijuana. That's why they fought so vigorously to keep Terri Schiavo alive, because there was a potential that she was alive, rather than pulling the plug like most every doctor recommended and letting those who were suffering around her move on.

I could berate you with personal stories of people suffering and in pain in my own family that could benefit from stem cell therapies, but is it going to do any good? Those of you, both of you, who opposed this bill need to look into your hearts and decide why it is not important to help the millions of people in this country alive today who need help who you're arrayed against.

The president's foolhardy decision is a decision which will sentence millions of people living today and in the future to painful and needless deaths. Sanctity of life? What sanctity of life?

As we all know, it started when Hezbollah guerillas acted illegally when infiltrating Israel, killing 8 soldiers and kidnapping 2. Israel responded stunningly, and might I say, in a manner that I would have too: with swift military force.

Lebanon, as a country, is split into two big pieces: the Hezbollah piece and the non-Hezbollah piece. When Lebanon kicked Syria out of the country and formed its own democratically elected government, Hezbollah was included in the process, and has two ministers that influence decisions. Worse yet, Hezbollah has a standing militia that is trained and armed by Syria and Iran that was supposed to be shut down once the democratically elected government took control. But it hasn't yet. So Israel is acting out of a desire to see this well-armed, well-trained, and determined military group sitting on its border shut down.

Israel is saying "Enough already".

The Lebanese people don't, on the whole, support what Hezbollah has done, but the Lebanese government does not have the willpower or the military power to shut down Hezbollah. If they attempted to, it would spark a new civil war that could have torn the country asunder. The ministers and people (that are not part of Hezbollah) have been saying "Enough already".

And now we, the rest of the world, are watching the attacks in pictures and video, seeing hundreds of innocent civilians in Lebanon killed, and scores of buildings in Israel destroyed by Hezbollah rockets and neither side is willing to back down or stop the hostilities, and even though we all support Israel's right to defend itself (including countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and others, who refused to condemn Israel's reaction to having its soldiers kidnapped) we've all started to hear the chorus of the world: "Enough already".

And now I sit here, seeing people in the US cheer when little kids are getting hurt in Lebanon, and our leaders unwilling to even so much as condemn the killing of civilians, and evangelical Christians cheering what they think is the beginning of armageddon, and pictures of Israeli girls writing messages on artillery shells to send to the Lebanese, and all I can think is "Enough already".

Apparently it's not only the US that overreacts to terrorism. This morning, the entire country of India starting blocking all Geocities, TypePad, and BlogSpot websites in entirety. The reasons being given is that terrorists communicate via blogs.

Wow. I don't think I should need to say that this is terribly stupid and overwrought. To say that blocking all traffic on this sites will make India safer from terrorism is just silly.

One, the methods used to disseminate information from blogs is too diverse. One can read blogs via Technorati, or Bloglines, and so on. Two, terrorists would still be able to communicate via emails, SMS, and the like. But third, and most importantly, consider how much good blogs too, especially for the people of India that are living overseas. Blogs are an important way for people working abroad to keep in touch with family and vice versa. Bloggers commented on the terrorist attack in Mumbai and continue to break news stories about it (including this overreaction). It's amazing to me that India (Bharat) would seek to join the most repressive nations on Earth, like the Muslim nations in the Gulf or North Korea and China and start filtering IP traffic in the country.

It's ridiculous. All the more so because part of India's economic rebirth has been because of the power of the web and it continues to operate as the "world's back office".

I'm just amazed. I never thought I'd see India do something like this, especially in the face of a bombing, which India has experienced before.

Other bloggers who have more to say on this issue, including ways to circumvent the filtering:

http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/

http://radio.weblogs.com/0121664/

http://www.ultrabrown.com/posts/india-censors-blogspot

http://www.shivamvij.com/2006/07/somebody-must-have-blocked-some-sites-what-is-your-problem.html

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/07/blogspot-blogs-banned-in-india-read.html

http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/2006/07/what-is-up-with-blogspot-blogger-sites.html

http://www.withinandwithout.com/?p=854

The best thing we can do in the US is to run TOR, a router that anonymizes internet traffic and makes it possible for clients to browse filtered websites. TOR is provided by the EFF and can be downloaded here.

On our home front, two of the big news stories that I should be blogging about are the Supreme Court's narrow rebuke of the President's detention of people in the name of this "war on terror" and the compromise that Arlen Specter forged with the administration that is supposed to bring judicial review to the domestic wiretapping.

I'd like to wipe my butt with both news stories. First of all, members of Congress on both sides of the building are already talking about finding a way to give Bush the authority to still strip prisoners of their rights, because, they say, the military tribunals built on the Uniform Code of Military Justice affords them "too many rights". Ah yes, that old chestnut. "Too many rights". Prisoners still have rights, whether those moonbats in Congress want to admit it or not. Of course, people's rights often get trampled under the foot of asserted government power...

Secondly, Specter's compromise is merely a mirage. His compromise, as so boldly spoken of gives Bush the choice to present his wiretapping activities to a secret court for them to judge on the entire program. But he doesn't have to submit it, and there's no penalties built in for not submitting the program to judicial review. It's a sham, and a shame for that matter, and I can't believe that anyone's thrilled by this.

The thing that keeps angering me about this whole thing is that the Administration keeps crying that the FISA courts process is "too cumbersome" to be workable, even though it gives them a lot of time and freedom to act first and go back later for the judicial review. I'm amazed that the administration would complain that they're unwilling to do the little bit of work required to preserve our rights while claiming to protect the American way. The irony is obviously lost on them.

For another point of view on the Supreme Court decision and what it means for the people in Gitmo, read this story by Richard Harlos.

Two news stories have crossed my desk, so to speak, that talk about an Al-Qaeda connection to the 7/11 Mumbai Bombings:

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/12raman.htm?q=tp&file=.htm

http://autofeed.msn.co.in/pandorav3/output/News/a7178664-612f-45eb-8141-88422bc019ef.aspx

The second one is of interest to me because it talks about Al-Qaeda sending out a fax in Kashmir praising the bombings and claiming that Al-Qaeda has started a cell in Kashmir.

I think Al-Qaeda already has cells in Kashmir, and doesn't want to necessarily make announcements in this manner. It smacks of Zacarias Moussaoui standing the courtroom screaming "I am Al-Qaeda", or in other words, it sounds like a bunch of hooey.

Kashmir is one of those global flashpoints that I think Al-Qaeda has been working in for months, training groups like LeT, etc in an attempt to foment trouble.

I do believe that Al-Qaeda had a direct hand in the 7/11 bombing, and is trying to radicalize the Muslim population of India. I can't speak to how successful they can or will or have been, but I think the consequences of us, the US, or the rest of the world for that matter, ignoring the possiblities of radicalized Indian muslims is something we do at our great peril.

In an effort to combat crime, amongst other noble causes, the mayor of Hazleton, PA, Lou Barletta, sought passage of a city ordinance that would make all city documents be printed in English only, fine landlords renting to illegal aliens, revoke city licenses from companies hiring illegal aliens, and so on.

Barletta, whose name smacks distinctly of an Italian immigrant, said he had to wear a bullet-proof vest while voting in fear of those murderous mobs of immigrants that this law will suddenly banish into the coal-ridden hinterlands where they may scratch at the burnt Earth like Lot in the Bible.

Most interesting to me was the quote:
"What you see here tonight, really, is a city that wants to take back what America has given it," Barletta said.

(Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203513,00.html)

That's funny, because I think that the part of the land you're living on was sold from one man who didn't own it to William Penn, and the original settlers in the area fought the local Indian tribes to hold on to it. Your family, my family, every family that settled in Hazleton were immigrants, and I'm sure a lot of them did not show up legally.

And fighting immigration like this is not going to lower crime. To say that all crime is because of the immigrant population and that suddenly printing all the city documents in only English will make everything better is just silly.

Here's an idea. Why don't you guys try engaging the immigrant populations? Empower the civic leaders amongst the immigrants, work with their churches and business leaders, and make them a part of the community. By doing that they help you keep crime lower, help you find the troublemakers, and make sure that the people on the fringes, like the people who can't speak English, don't fall through the cracks of society.

Laws like this do nothing to help anyone.

Sepia Mutiny wants to know why there have been so few stories about the railway bombings in India.

The problem, as Kevin Drum states, is that most Americans don't find it that interesting. Even the bombings in London and Madrid didn't spark much interest, except for those hawks who used it as further proof that islamists were expanding their war against, well, everyone they don't like, which includes the West, Africans, and all brands of Muslims that don't fit their tiny world-view. So a bombing in India, which to most Americans is a galaxy away seems, like the country, foreign.

Beyond that, the blogs of the left, like DailyKos, Eschaton, et al, will not give the bombings in Mumbai much screen time because it's another example of terror in the world that their political opponents can use to advocate more US military action. I don't think they're working to cover it up so much as just quietly turn their heads and hope that the good people of India will deal with it on their own.

Juergan Klinsmann, the well-respected coach of the German World Cup Soccer Team has announced he's retiring from coaching the Germans to spend time with his family in Los Angeles. Word is that he will take 6 months off to rest and then he will announce his intention to coach the US team, which would be great.

I've been following the news of the bomb blasts in India since they happened around 9am my time. Some in the US would like to think that this is India's introduction to terrorism, but India's been wrestling with terrorist organizations for so long already, that I can't say I'm shocked by this event, only saddened.

One thing I'm curious about is that they said that the nature of the attacks looks like the work of Kashmiri separatists and not Al-Qaeda, in particular because of the synchronized nature of the bombing, but that doesn't jive with me. Certainly it could be local terrorists in their own country, but Al-Qaeda's a fan of those types of synchronized attacks, or have we forgotten about how London, Madrid, 9/11, and the African Embassy Bombings were all synchronized?

Anyway, my condolences to the men and women of Mumbai and their families for all of you who have lost someone.

Mai bharosa aapka parivar theek hai karta hoon.

Read here for a local's perspective on the bombings: http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/2006/07/blasts-in-bombay.html

All I have to say is that I'm glad we're getting closer to election day because not only are we finding more and more terrorists, but the White House has suddenly find a way to shrink the budget deficit.

It's like the approach of November is a magical time in Washington where solutions suddenly appear out of thin air.

*waves hands*MAGGGGIIIICCCCCC*waves hands*

All I have to say is that I sure am glad that it's getting closer and closer to election time because the Dept of Homeland Frivolity and the FBI are finally getting around to catching some terrorists.

I have been a fan of Godspeed You! Black Emporer for a couple of years now and I came across this video for "Dead Flag Blues" this morning:

Some notes about the video:
If the pacing of the video seems slow, it is, but only because GY!BE do not make short songs. I have three albums from them, and the shortest song I have from them is a little over 6 minutes long. The song that this 7 minute clip came from is over 17 minutes long, and you're only hearing the first part. Yes, that sounds like Lee Marvin doing the monologue, but there's some uncertainity if it really is or not.

Some notes about the band:
Godspeed You! Black Emporer is a band from Canada that has a revolving group of members, but is usually more than 5 people. The music is almost entirely without words, and the members will play everything from stringed instruments to brass instruments, to electric guitars and drums, and so on. The music defies normal description because it sits in some area between ambient music, jazz, classical, and alternative. It's typically very moody and somber and stark. I would not recommend that people contemplating suicide or schizophrenics listen to GY!BE, and you may need to double your dose of anti-depressants after listening, but they are fabulous.

And as a last note, they take their name from a documentary from the 1970's about a Japanese motorcycle gang.

Their official website is here: http://brainwashed.com/godspeed/main.html
Constellation Records, which releases a good chunk of the GY!BE music, along with members' side projects (like the fabulous A Silver Mt. Zion) is here: http://www.cstrecords.com/records_index_new.html

The World Cup Final is tonight. France vs. Italy. Yeah...I don't know who to root for. It's not that I am possessed by some rabid anti-france attitude like a lot of American men, nor am I prejuidiced against the Italians for any particular reason, it's more a sense of ignorance against each team. I've heard more about the French team because the BBC has spoken about them more, and how the star of the team is French-African and this is his last game professionally, and my mom's from the Alsace, the area of Germany right on the French border, so I guess I'm going to root for the French, though I was really hoping for a Germany - England World Cup, or better yet, a US - Germany World Cup. Oh well. There's always 2010.

I have talked about the music of RX before, so I was excited to see him branch out with a video. Here he is giving us Dubya singing "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"

While I'm handing out praise (see my blurb on Ubuntu below), I should say that I find Microsoft OneNote, part of Office 2007 to be a really useful piece of software. It is like a collection of notebooks that you create that house pages, each page is a big blank canvas that you can click on anywhere and make a note and it saves it automatically for you. You can click on each of these little notes and modify them, delete them, flag them, and so on.

You can also send information from other Office apps right to OneNote, meaning you can click on an email and send to OneNote, and then start adding information to the original email.

OneNote also gives you the ability to trap screenshots from any application and drag them as notes into any page.

Also cool is the automatic backups, the ability to password-protect sections, and to publish pages as PDF or XPS. It integrates with SharePoint, and you can create shared notebooks that all people have access to.

It's well done, and after I took a few minutes to read the documentation and try it out I found the interface to be, maybe not quite intuitive, but certainly easy to understand. I like it a lot and I'm happy that they've brought something like this out.

I'm reader of BoingBoing, and Slashdot, and other geekish sites, and I've been seeing a lot of talk about Ubuntu, which is one of the Linux OS flavors of choice right now, so I decided to download the LiveCD ISO and run the OS from the CD on my laptop to see how well it worked, etc.

It's very well done. Ubuntu recognized my wireless card, my wireless mouse, my wireless dong...no wait...most importantly it recognized the video card I have in my double-wide Dell Laptop and picked a suitable resolution for the wide-screen.

In the past, video cards have been a sticking point for me in Linux, causing me headaches and much gnashing of teeth.

I'm very very happy with Ubuntu, and if I had a spare box to throw it on, I would. I'm too dependent on this laptop for work to start monkeying with the partitions but I'm glad I gave this a try. I'm going to keep an eye out for a cheap desktop I can get my hands on and start playing with Ubuntu.

Update:

The General has a good summation of a case in Delaware where a Jewish family was run out of a town in Southern Delaware when they expressed discomfort with the amount of Christian theology mixed into the public school district functions.

The tolerance for others went as far as people in the area to call the local radio station telling them to convert to Christianity or leave the area, and people to say that the KKK was coming after them.

These are the times I live in?

Of course, the thing that strikes me about all of this is that Jesus himself was a Jew. He kept kosher, he celebrated Passover, he was a practicing Jew. To attack Jewish people for what they believe is to attack God's chosen people. Never mind the fact that in this country we are supposed to have freedom of religion and freedom from religious persecution, and that we all have basic human rights which include not threatening people for what they believe.

Again, these are the times I live in?

On Fox News, Brian Kilmeade, one of the co-hosts of Fox & Friends, their lovely fascist morning show starting stumping for an Office of Censorship for the U.S.

KILMEADE: Not crushing -- preserving our freedom by preserving our secrets because war is not a free thing. Intelligence is not something to be shared: It's to be coveted and used to our advantage. Here's what Roosevelt did. He appointed Byron Price, a respected journalist, to run the office. Price accepts the post on the condition that the media can voluntarily agree on a self-censorship. The Office employs 14,000, and they are civilians, to monitor cable, mail, and radio communications between the United States and other nations. The Office closes in 1945. Our nation still flies. The flag still soars.

Source (http://mediamatters.org/items/200606290009)

Lovely. I am reminded of a quote from Eisenhower who had something to say about all of this:
"Un-American activity cannot be prevented or routed out by employing un-American methods; to preserve freedom we must use the tools that freedom provides."

I bet that if something like this Office got set up the censor's office wouldn't even swing by Fox News, but they'd try to shut down people like the Washington Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and so on. Luckily I don't think this would work. The difference between today and World War II is that the internet makes blogging and news sharing too quick and anonymous for the government to quash.

When I set up this site I set it up so that I could create a myriad of fake email addresses that I then used to sign up for services. This let me keep track of which companies sell email addresses to spammers, and I'm actually happy to report that for 3 years now, with the vast majority of companies, I've never ever had an issue, and I've signed up for a lot of services. However, this weekend, I got the first spam to one of these accounts from a "legitimate" company: BookSpan, or Book-of-the-Month Club, which runs sites like the HistoryBookClub.com and ConservativeBookClub.com, both of which I've belonged to in the last 3 years.

The email was for HistoryBookClub.com and I'm shocked and dismayed, but I'd like to state it clearly:

BookSpan sells your email address to spammers. HistoryBookClub.com sells your email address to spammers.

Pass it on.