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Confessions Of A Desperate Mind

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» A Great Outlook On The Presidential Race
My Dad was talking to me about the news, and he made a great point. To paraphrase, he said:
With Bush getting a good bounce from the convention, all Kerry want is to get on the news and fight back. Problem is, what is the news today? First you've got over 100 children dead by terrorists, giving Bush a boost. Then there's Bill Clinton's heart surgery, stealing the attention of many Democrats and everybody who liked the guy. Finally, there's the hurricane in Florida, the biggest swing state in the nation. And every one of those is leading the news ahead of Kerry's announcement that he vows to be a President that tells the truth. For the next few days, the only way Kerry will make the top stories is if he announces that he's gay!

Sep. 3rd, 2004 @ 04:23 pm
» Public Searches
To those who disagreed with my previous post about illegal searches at the Democratic National Convention, I bring you this: a "Know Your Rights" factsheet, designed for protestors. And, as it plainly states, a police officer, with no probable cause and not having arrested you, only has the right to pat you down for weapons. The officer has no right to ask you to open your bag or empty your pockets. The rules are different for entering buildings, since the building can choose the entry procedure it wishes to enforce, and you can choose not to enter. But a public area, which anyone has the right to be in, is subject to all the protections the Constitution gives us. So if an officer asks to see what's in your pockets during the Republican National Convention, a simple "I do not consent" will suffice.
(via Boing Boing)

  • On a side note, has anyone noticed their old posts becoming unreadable because of supposedly invalid HTML markup? This has happened to me three times in the last four days, and I've had to go back and edit them. For the people who can't read and edit HTML, this is probably an even more serious problem.


Aug. 23rd, 2004 @ 09:56 am
» Viruses are spread by the worst kind of infection: Ignorance
Since June 24th, a 34 day period, I have received 160 viruses (mostly worms, but the term virus is simpler) in my never used email account. Now, the reason I receive these viruses despite never using the account is simple. Someone has my email address in their address book. They receive a virus, and the virus looks throught their address book, adding all the names to its list, and then sends out itself to random addresses. The infection only continues if someone is stupid enough to click on the email, then open the attachment which is so obviously a virus to anyone with a decent knowledge of computers.

Then again, I guess that is too much to ask for. I have 160 viruses in 34 days, and every single one of them came during normal business hours. This confirms what I have long suspected, that the viruses which spread and cripple email networks are the fault of corporate users of Microsoft Outlook who don't have the neccessary computer experience to know that you do not open a file in an email unless it's a Word document. Again and again I get my viruses from NBC, the state of New York, IBM, the USTA (thanks Carl!), Playboy, the Design Imaging Group, BestWeb, Eastbay, Palm, and many others.

People really need to understand that viruses do not spread because of brilliant programming, but because of mass stupidity. When you get an email, only open the file if its from someone you know (people you don't know don't send you files, it just doesn't work like that), and only if the file is a .doc, .txt, .pdf, .jpg/.jpeg, or .gif. Anything else, assume its a virus and call the person and ask them. NEVER open a file that ends in .exe, .com, .bat, .dat, or really any extension you don't recognize.

Also, don't assume that just because you got a virus that says its from somebody that the person actually sent you the virus. More likely than not, they didn't. When someone opens a virus, the virus grabs all their email addresses and adds them to the virus, then sends itself to random emails, many of which may not even be from the address book, and with random return addresses as well. That means that if Adam opens a virus, the virus may send itself to Bob and claim its from Carl. You shouldn't call Carl like an idiot and complain. If you want to find out who sent it to you, learn to read email headers, and that's a topic for another day.
Aug. 5th, 2004 @ 09:06 am
» Horrified. Just Plain Horrified
Pharmacotherapy or Neurocops? Internal Policing and the Future of the Drug War

You can look at the summary, read the 28-section paper, this article lays it out for you but let me sum it up: Britiain is seriously considering giving children "vaccines" that will prevent drug use, by "protecting" them from the euphoria experienced by drug use.

Well, now I've seen it all. Let me put it simply: This is quite possibly the most dangerous idea in the history or mankind, and I don't think I'm even approaching overreacting.

If we give the government the license to alter our children's feelings at an age where they cannot give consent, we are taking away the concept of freedom from our lives. What if the government takes the next step and "protects" us from revolutionary feelings? Angry feelings? Homosexual feelings? I am so horribly disgusted by this that words fail me.

Maybe people are getting used to medicating problems and ignoring personal responsibility, but these are children we are talking about. They don't know what is being done to them, they don't know what it means, and they can't know if they don't want to do it. Smoking pot is not a mental illenss you treat with drugs, its an antisocial behavior, and we have no right to alter people against it. It is their choice. They risk arrest over it, same as with every other crime. Are we going to medicate people so they can't commit crimes? Why don't you put a V-Chip in my brain so I can't steal Post-its at work!

Let alone the fact that we would be altering our children in ways that are not illegal in other countries! Are the British saying their laws are better than Amsterdam, and those unfortunate to live in England should be "protected" from another country's culture? If England passes this law, I don't think I could ever enter that country and not feel disgusted. I have to believe that the people of England are rational enough not to stand for such an invasion of their children's bodies, but I can never be sure. God help them if I'm wrong.
Aug. 3rd, 2004 @ 02:39 am
» Say Goodbye To The Fourth Amendment
For your consideration, the fourth amendment to the Constitution of the United States:


  • The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.



Now check it:

Activists sue to stop random MBTA bag searches

Ladies and gentlemen, that is going too far. I support the Patriot Act, or at least the need for it. I understand that terrorism is a tough bug to smash, and we need tougher measures to combat it. I have no problem with the CIA knowing what books I take out from the library, or where my transactions go. Measures like that, while invading privacy, can never hurt anyone unless they are doing something wrong. No one is going to jail because they took out a book on bombs from the library, but it might point out a terrorist to the authorities, and that makes it okay to me.

But searching people on a bus or train? Random, completely non-suspicious people? Throwing them off the train if they refuse to comply? That is crossing the line.

If a police officer thinks I have commited a crime, but has no evidence to charge me, he can ask me to come with him to the station. And guess what? I can say no.

I guess not anymore.

If a police officer asks you to search your bag, you do the American thing. You ask, "On what probable cause?" Then, when he tells you its for security purposes, you can qoute the Constitution and tell him to go to hell.
Jul. 27th, 2004 @ 04:58 pm
» How To Add Hotmail Contacts To gmail
or "How I Finally Gave Back To The Internet"

Many gmail users want to add their Hotmail contacts to gmail. When gmail announced it would allow importing of contacts, but it would still not work with Hotmail, I thought "There has to be a way". 20 minutes later, turns out there was.

1. First, add your Hotmail account to Outlook Express (or Outlook, if you have it). Obviously, you'll need a version of Outlook that supports this. This process is illustrated below:

Hopefully that's all pretty straightforward. If not, there are plenty of places that will explain to you the process in depth, including Microsoft's own support site.

2. Open Windows Address Book and click Tools -> Synchronize Now. Address Book finds your Hotmail contacts. Then click File -> Export -> Other Address Book, and in the next dialog click Text File (Comma Seperated Values). You now have a *.CSV file, which gmail can easily import.

Someone already told me this works for users other than myself, who have MSN Premium, so all Hotmail/gmail users can take advantage of this workaround to get their contacts set up. Problem is, the more contacts you have, the more obvious it becomes how primitive gmail's contact manager is. But, that makes it all the better to not have to type in all those contacts. And I suggest deleting your account from Hotmail and your contacts from Address Book, so worms will have a harder time getting at them.

If you post my tip, give me credit and a link.

Oh, and my tip is also featured on the excellent Gmailtips.com, and in the gmail community.
Jul. 21st, 2004 @ 10:11 am
» Feeling Loyal... And Disenfranchised
I live in New York. According to a recent issue of Business Week, 8 million Republicans living in New York and California will have absolutely no reason to vote this year because the electoral college hands New York to the Democrats every year (although California has a shot). Ever since I was old enough to vote (which isn't a very long period of time) I have been a Democrat, because it was the only way I could vote in the primaries and have an actual say in local politics. I have been telling people for years what a waste of time it is to be a Republican in New York City.

Yesterday, I walked into the DMV and changed my party affiliation to Republican.

I feel like a liberal. I did something that makes me less important to the political process than ever before just because I believed in it. Previously, I believed you did the most to maximize your vote potential. Now I am doing what my heart tells me.

For debate: Is it unAmerican (in the spirit of the Constitution, not the words) to have a system that marginalizes and throws out the votes of tens of millions of Americans? Is anyone else disgusted by the fact that they don't matter?
Jul. 8th, 2004 @ 01:25 pm
» I'd Like To Patent... The Air! Yes, The Air!
Wired has an article about how some collosally stupid patents are being challenged by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. These patent include the patent for distibuting all digital content, the right to record a concert and then sell a cd of it, the right to rank players of online games, the right to use subdomains (like www.livejournal.com/montevino), and the right to test people over the internet. These are all basic concepts that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was stupid enough to grant, effectively shackeling perfectly normal uses that the company in question has no right to patent. And if you think these are perfectly stupid harmless patents, don't, because every one of the patent holders has already used it to bully small companies.

I bet no one ever thought to patent "the process by which sound is distibuted through air, arriving at the auditory canal, processed by nueral impulses and interpreted as natural language". Yeah, I'm off to patent sound, see you later...
Jun. 30th, 2004 @ 08:35 pm
» Being Ron Jeremy
So, a spoof of Being John Malkovich is out, called Being Ron Jeremy. Basically a similar plot, but with the famous porn star as the character you can enter, and with the (admittedly crude) concept of you getting spit out of Ron Jeremy when he farts, landing naked in a dumpster. My girlfriend is going to love this, one day after I made her see Malkovich. And I'm sure Queens College will also be thrilled, just another QC grad doing good.
Right...
Jun. 28th, 2004 @ 10:13 am
» Ga-Ga For Google
I have become such a Google-obsessive over the last week, searching on Google, for Google. It started out as looking for tips on gmail.

From the top:

So, I've been using gmail for the last few days, ever since a kind gmail swap user gave me an account for a horrible reason. Problem is, while gmail is interesting in concept, there was no email to look at since I had just gotten the account. It was like my first day of email all over again, and it was creepy. I've had the same Hotmail account since around 1998, so switching to gmail isn't going to be easy. I'm not telling everyone about my gmail address until I know I'm sticking with it.

So, I wanted to test it out, but didn't want people sending me email. I signed up for a few Google News Alerts and Beta Web Alerts, but none of this was enough. So I decided I wanted to dump my entire Hotmail inbox into my gmail account, if only as a test.

First, I just forwarded all the email. Bad plan. I wound up with a single email in my gmail inbox that was 16 megabytes, and contained within it hundreds of attachments, each one an old email. That might be useful as an archive, but didn't do me any good.

So, off to Google to find a better way.

I discovered that by combining Hotmail Popper with Eudora I could pull it off. Hotmail Popper creates a fake POP3 mail server on your computer that pulls data off Hotmail. Then Eudora acceses what it believes is a POP3 email account, but is in fact your good-old Hotmail account. All your Hotmail winds up in Eudora's Inbox, you set up a filter that redirects the mail to gmail, and bam, one Inbox becomes another Inbox.

This didn't work out exactly as planned.

I wound up with something like this:

If you look at the messages, you'll see a lot of them are from "by way of Nathan Weinberg". I already figured out this bug and what it means. When you have an email account, you are supposed to give your name to the client so when people get email from you it says "Yishai Maynard" and not "iwontwritehisemailaddress@aol.com". This mainly happens with AOL, since AOL doesn't use any technology the rest of the internet has been using for years. So, when my email is redirected, since there is no name, it puts in my name since that's the one Eudora provided.

A second problem is that gmail missed on grouping the conversations right, a lot more than it usually does. These two problems mean I am definetly not switching to gmail until it has a proper import feature, although I will use it for a few things here and there.

During my travels, I discovered a few cool things. The first is gtray, which gives you a little notification when you have new mail. Definetly a useful little tool. However, when it checks for mail it interrupts the computer for just one second, meaning whatever you type during that one second is lost, meaning a nice little typo. Really annoying bug, since it happens every five minutes without fail. I emailed the maker of the little program, Elias Torres, and hopefully he can fix the bug.

Then there's MoreGoogle, which adds, well, more to Google. It is a simple DLL that adds features to normal Google searches. It adds an extra two seconds to searches, so it can get annoying, but is at least worth checking out first.

Some useful sites:


And before you go, a video about what a Google school would be like, and for those who never tire of politics, an interesting little site about John Kerry
Jun. 28th, 2004 @ 04:14 am
» gmail For Me, gmail For You (well, not really)
So, I got gmail yesterday (I won't tell you how, but lets just say it involved whoring myself) and I am very impressed. The entire interface is based around a single idea, that of grouping back-and-forth emails into conversations. The idea is that if I email back and forth my friends, each new email is added to the chain and I can go back and read the whole conversation. This isn't an advanced feature, its the only way to view emails period, and it works completely on its own.
While it working on its own is the way it has to be, because no one has the time to combine hundreds of emails by conversation topic, the single biggest fault of gmail is that you cannot have any control at all over how it combines emails. Google is going to have to come up with a "gmail advanced" that allows users to go back after the system has put together the conversations, and allow us to add emails that it missed, and remove emails that are in the wrong place. After all, if an email is in the wrong conversation or not included in the conversation, with a gigabyte of space it becomes lost forever. There is no way gmail can work properly without allowing users to make changes.
For now, I'm sticking with my hotmail account and using gmail for new correspondence. I get 25 MBs through MSN anyway, and the ability to archive on myu computer, so theoretically I have unlimited email backup, just without gmail's features. The question is, how worth is will gmail's features be? Good luck google, this has promise, I hope you deliver.


  • As for gmail invites, I currently have none. When I do have them they will go out in this order: 1. Friends and family - 2. Members of the newspaper (which I have already given the knightnews*@*gmail.com address (watch for asterisks) - 3. Random people. The random people will not really be random, but rather the people who have simply given me a good reason to give them invites.


Jun. 24th, 2004 @ 05:22 am
» Man of Steel or Man of Lies?
Since Eli[info]impulse2000 keeps complaining my lj is too boring and serious, I thought I'd post something lighter. Here's something I wrote earlier this week. The goal? Write a movie review of a movie about journalism. Ithink the movie I choose wasn't what she had in mind...

Superman: The Movie (1978) features the adventures of one of the most enduring characters of modern fiction, Clark Kent. There’s also something in there about a man who can fly, but that is mostly hogwash.
Realisticly, the movie was the first in four feature films about Superman. In this one, we are treated to the origin of the Man of Steel, his first public rescues, a budding romance with Lois Lane, and his thwarting of an evil (if implausibly written) plot by Lex Luthor. But most importantly, we see Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper, at his first day on the job for the Daily Planet.
Of all the famous reporters in history, the career of Clark Kent is probably the most thrilling. However, viewing him purely as a journalist, one cannot help but lose a bit of respect for the man. What kind of a journalist spends most of his time writing about himself?
Clark Kent got his job at the Daily Planet for the silliest of reasons. His Editor-in-chief, Perry White, does make note of his snappy prose style, but seems more impressed with his being “the fastest typist I have ever seen”.
Even the newspaper he works for makes little sense. What kind of a newspaper does not have the name of a city in its name? Not in this country. Even a national newspaper, such as USA Today, has the word “USA” in its title. Why Kent does not write for the Metropolis Daily Planet I will never understand.
But the most glaring problem is Clark’s complete lack of journalistic integrity. Every day, he does not simply avoid telling people he is also Superman; he actively strengthens the lie with every breath. His posture, voice, looks (those silly glasses and slicked back hair) and demeanor all reinforce this portrayal. But worst of all is the fact that he has no principles when it comes to objectivity. Any self-respecting journalist, if he or she became too much a part of the story, would have to recuse himself and allow another writer to write the story. But Clark Kent is not a player in a story he is researching, he is the story. He betrays the trust of his readers the instant he begins a story and does not immediately state “for the record, this reporter is also known as Superman”.
When any publication writes about something that falls under the umbrella of the conglomerate it is owned by, it is imperitave of that publication to notify the reader of any possible biases. If Time Magazine writes about DC Comics, it must mention that both are owned by Time Warner. But Clark Kent makes no attempt to disclaimer himself and his stories.
Never mind there is also the issue of a man investigating a story who has hidden extranormal abilities. Is it right for Mr. Kent to ask questions of a politician without first mentioning that his super-hearing also functions as a lie detector? Is there any integrity in using x-ray vision to read a secret memo, and then use that information in a story?
Of course, one could imagine this entire world unraveling around Clark. It is a safe assumption that one day a supervillian, be it Luthor, Brainiac, Metallo, or even Mxyzptlk will reveal Superman’s secret identity to the world. Surely Perry White, a man who practically sweats integrity, would fire him on the spot. Perhaps the paper would have to issue retractions and apologies for every story he has ever written. Perhaps any journalistic organization would strip him of any awards he has received for his work. Imagine the headline: “Superman Revealed To Be Daily Planet Columnist; Clark Kent Stripped Of Nobel Prize”.
There is another way his career could end in disaster. Nowadays, with the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal revealing liars at nearly every newspaper, papers are buckling down on their writers, investigating expense reports and questioning sources. If Clark wrote a story about Superman saving hostages in Mogadishu, how will he later explain how he got to Mogadishu? He would have to take the humiliation of being branded a fraud to avoid exposing his secret to the world.
Ultimately, while any reporter would rather be Superman, Superman would not make a very realistic reporter. Of course, he could always just write movie reviews, no harm in that.
May. 21st, 2004 @ 06:42 pm
» Al Franken: Protector of Freedom
Al Franken Knicks Down Dean Heckler

Of all the liberal hipocrisy. This just takes the cake.

Time and time again do we hear the phrase "Freedom of Speech" abused by liberals. A conservative will bash a liberal for an opinion, and the liberal media will come down hard on that conservative, claiming the conservative is trying to take away the first person's freedom of speech. The conservative will be crucified in the press, while the press ignores the painfully obvious irony of telling a man he is not allowed to give his opinion by using the concept that a person should be allowed to give his opinion. Simply:

Person A gives opinion.
Person B disagrees publicly.
If person B is conservative, media will claim he is violating Freedom of Speech, and should not be Free to Speak.

If person A is the conservative and person B is the liberal, he is probably just heroic, according to the liberal media. As for what remains of the conservative media, They would just agree with person A and call person B his detractor. No insults. No "Freedom of Speech". Conservatives don't yell about Freedom of Speech. It's just not a conservative platform. But when liberals invoke it, it means Freedom of Liberal Opinion, with a side order of No Freedom of Opposition.

I don't hate liberals, or mean to stereotype. However, I have never seen Freedom of Speech invoked in any concept except this one. Liberals are the usual purveyors of this form of hypocrisy, but conservatives have been guilty of it as well. It is one of the simplest, dumbest mistakes a person can make. Freedom of Speech is in actuality Freedom of Exchange, not Freedom from Criticism.

"I'm neutral in this race but I'm for freedom of speech, which means people should be able to assemble and speak without being shouted down."

Al Franken said that (read the article). In the interest of Freedom of Speech, Al Franken knocked to the ground a man who was trying to speak.

The man was speaking in opposition of Howard Dean. He disagreed with Dean, but he did not knock Dean to the ground.

This is the difference between Al Franken and Ann Coulter, ladies and gentlemen. It's called class, and he doesn't have it.
Jan. 27th, 2004 @ 07:15 pm
» Mad Cows, Crazier Health Officials
USDA Refused To Release Mad Cow Records

Sometimes you have to step up and slap people in the face and say "Don't you have a conscience?! Are you a human being?!"

In this country, if something goes wrong, something that could be a poilitical or financial disaster, the first instinct is "How can we cover this up?", "How can we spin it so we don't look bad?"

Well, Mad Cow Disease has come to the United States. If left unchecked, Mad Cow could ruin every cow in this country. The effects on our economy would be devastating. If left unwarned, anyone who eats beef could get sick. The USDA has only one job: To protect the American people from and warn them of dangers like this. But..

"It was almost like they didn't want to find mad cow disease," Schwochert said.

They were more interested in avoiding the blame, and sweeping it under the rug in the hopes that thousands of cows would not have to be destroyed. In Europe, the first sign of Mad Cow results in major advisories and wide-spread testing. Containment and speed are the key. If you catch it early, very few cows need to be killed. If you drag your feet and it spreads, you must destroy most of your livestock. Good plan, USDA. Cover your own asses, and forget about the repurcussions. Already other countries are banning U.S. beef because they don't trust us to handle it right.

My prediction: Firings all around in the coming weeks.


  • In other News, President Bush has announced a very daring set of immigration reforms. Although it is too early to tell what this means, and whether it is as good as the White House says, if successful, it could capture the Hispanic vote and help Bush in November. I hope it's as good as they say, because anything good for America is good, regardless of political ambissions.


Dec. 24th, 2003 @ 06:43 am
» Search Inside The Book
The Great Library of Amazonia

The article makes the excellent point taht so many people use the internet as their primary source of research. If it isn't online, it doesn't exist.

The internet is not a compendium of all human knowledge. Most detailed information is still contained in books. If you don't go to a library first for your research, your research is likely flawed from the get-go.

I applaud Amazon for this initiative. This is needed, if only to make the internet a true, complete research tool.
Dec. 23rd, 2003 @ 07:26 pm
» Democrats vs. Republicans, Dean vs. Bush, Oppresion vs. Greed: Where do you stand?
I think it's time I finally weighed in on the 2004 Presidential Race.

Damn can of worms...

I am a Democrat, and not by choice. In the great City of New York, to be a Republican is to be a fool. With such a large percentage of the population being Democrats, all local elections (with a one-in-forty exception rate) are won by Democrats. The typical exception is the major elections, such as that for mayor. If I was a Republican, I would not be able to vote in the primary election, and would basically be conceding my vote to the Democrats.

My anger at this resulted in a "yes" vote in the ballot proposal for non-partisan elections. Sadly, that initiative lost. I can only hope that in the future the people of this great city will come to their senses and see the advantages of a two party system. If you think that a one party system, even by choice of the voters, is an okay thing, then you are not the type of American the founding fathers had in mind, and you don't deserve your partisan, uninformed vote.

Am I a Republican? Yes and no. I do not agree with the Democratic Party as an institution. I do not approve of "tax and spend" politics. I like to keep my paycheck and spend it on things that I use. I think anyone that claims Republicans are holding the poor back just needs to ask a poor person if he would rather receive welfare checks or the 30%+ of his paycheck that dissapeared before it reached his hands.

I also disagree with quite a bit of the Republican Party. I may be a religious person (if you can't tell which religion from my name, which I freely print here because I do not believe in hiding behind the anonymity of the internet, then I won't bother telling you), but I am no fundamentalist. Fundamentalists slaughtered Muslim scholars in the crusades, Americans in the World Trade Center, black people in the Southern United States via the KKK, and many times throughout history. Religious fundamentalism is this world's worst plague, and I will have no part in it.

"Hardcore" Republicans can sometimes become fundamentalists themselves. The idea of outlawing abortion in this day and age is ludicrous. The commonly accepted views of the American people are the only views important to America. Individual viewpoints, while interesting, cannot be allowed to impact an innocent majority.

Liberal disgust of the religious majority in this country is fast becoming a crime all to itself. The removal of religious symbols from public places is not a sign of so-called "liberalism" but rather a sign of intolerance for a belief. As much as religious differences are a threat to personal safety, lack of respect for religion is becoming a threat to freedom of religion. There is a reason that freedom is in the Constitution, even if liberals refuse to acknowledge it. This is why Liberaly Country Number One, France, has decided to discriminate against people of all religions:

Chirac Backs Law to Keep Signs of Faith Out of School

So, I am no radical Republican. I am no radical Liberal. I am a typical American. I believe in freedom, opportunity, tolerance and understanding. I believe Saddam Hussein is a murderer and a tyrant, and any excuse, even that of selfish financial profit, is enough of an excuse to invade a country to remove him. I applaud President Bush for having the courage to do something unpopular, but right, even while I denounce him for waging war more for Haliburton than the Iraqi people. To anyone who says profit was our only motive, I say this: Did we invade a peace-loving freedom-loving bastion of democracy for financial gain, or did we invade Iraq. I am sure there is financial gain to be made in Australia, but we did not invade them, because they are everything Saddam was not. We will not invade true democracies, because they are free people, and should be our brothers, not our enemies. We do not invade countries where there is nothing to be gained, because that we be irresponsible to our taxpayers, and we are not the police of the world. But if you are stupid enough to play in the world economy and try your hand at genocide, you'd better watch for the skies, because those smart bombs are headed for you.

I will vote to re-elect President Bush, because he represents this country far better than a radical like Howard Dean, the likely Democratic nominee. This country should never have a radical President. Radicals run country like Nazi Germany, Stalin's Russia, and every other oppresive regime in history. The last thing we need to follow the greed of Bush is a radical Dean. Greed is not a crime, it is simply a desire to win at the expense of others. Tyranny is a crime. I simply ask, who sis more likely to press his views on the American people, Dean or Bush?

From Dean's own website, Howard Dean for America- deanforamerica.com:

"We seek an America where it is not enough to protect our own rights under the law, but where it is a duty and an obligation for each of us as Americans to make sure every American is equal under the law. "

I hate the idea that everyone deserves the same things, whether or not they have earned it. It just reaks of socialism. The American Dream is not "A Porsche in every garage" but reward for hard work. I agree with equal opportunity. Just because you are born poor doesn't mean you should stay poor. I think we should base financial aid and affirmative action programs on nothing but parental income. It shouldn't matter what your race is, just how poor you were raised. But when someone who could have stayed in school but instead dropped and and works at McDonald's because they "had to have that new CD", or stayed content in that secretarial job when he or she could have been training at night for something better recieves a check from the government to make up for their shortcomings, I call that charging the rich for the poor, not helping the poor. People need to work for their money. No one could ever accuse a CEO, who had to get promoted over tons of other people with fancy resumes and degrees numerous times, who networked the right people, who risks his financial livelihood and those of thousands of employees with every decision he makes, of not working to get where he is. The person at McDonald's never put in that kind of effort.

Newsmax.com: Dean: I'd 'Break Up' FOX News

Howard Dean says he would break up FOX News, and all of News Corporation, not on monopolistic grounds, but "on idealogical grounds", i.e. because he does not agree with them. Sure why not? It worked for the Nazis, the Soviets, and still works for Red China. I think a media that is allowed to say whatever it wants is dangerous. Did I say dangerous? I meant democratic.

Of course, I have to vote in the primary, purely out of a responsibility to my country. Who will I vote for? A right-in candidate: George W. Bush.
Dec. 23rd, 2003 @ 09:45 am
» Global warming hits back, hard.
Thousands at risk of death in UK as temps drop...

Isn't it strange how unprepared some places are for radical temperatures? I live in New York, and we've had snow three times this month, and hundred degree heat waves every other summer, and we just take it in stride. France had a heatwave this year and people were dropping dead all over the country. I can understand Europeans not being as prepared as people who live in areas where temperature always hits extremes, but situations like this indicate complete ineptitude on the part of the government. The French governent wages a large campaign against the Iraq war, in which none of their citizens were harmed, but does not provide emergency relief shipments of air conditioners? People die when government gets too "political" and not enough practical.
Dec. 23rd, 2003 @ 07:53 am
» Not So Bad When You Get To Know Me
Feds, Wal-Mart Drive RFID Adoption

For every time some idiot tells me the U.S. government helps corporations get richer I need to find a story like this one. This is a case of the military awarding a contract of a new technology so that technology will emerge as a market leader and make its way int the marketplace quickly.

A Political Science professor once told of how the U.S. government manipulated the auto industry during the Great Depression. There were tens of car companies and the government awarded a military contract to four or five of them. It was a ten-year contract for hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Naturally, by the time ten years were up those were the only car companies left in the U.S., and represent the only car companies left today as well.

But also, by the time those ten years were up, the United States had been lifted out of the Great Depression thanks to a strong auto industry, cars were safer and cheaper and well-regulated. The government was simply helping the economy and industry. According to some ultra-liberals, this is apparently a crime, not one of the most important things the government is supposed to do.

In this case, an infant technology that is a big step forward is presented by Wal-Mart, which took a huge financial risk on the project. I think we should all be glad the military is willing to step in and assist companies in advancing progress. Advances in technology helps improve things for everybody, and in this case our tax dollars are pushing the improvement.
Oct. 31st, 2003 @ 10:22 am
» Take THAT RIAA!
Well, it looks like KaZaA isn't that bad and can be used to promote material (not that I didn't say that a month ago).

http://suicidegirls.com/members/Sean/157075/
Oct. 31st, 2003 @ 09:51 am
» Osama bin Laden's Open Letter To America
From the Guardian Online:

Online document: the full text of Osama bin Laden's "letter to the American people", reported in today's Observer. The letter first appeared on the internet in Arabic and has since been translated and circulated by Islamists in Britain.

Observer Worldview

Sunday November 24, 2002

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,
"Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory" [Quran 22:39]

"Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (anything worshipped other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan."[Quran 4:76]

Some American writers have published articles under the title 'On what basis are we fighting?' These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth - as an explanation and warning - hoping for Allah's reward, seeking success and support from Him.

While seeking Allah's help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans:

(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?
Q2)What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:

(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.

a) You attacked us in Palestine:

(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its*price, and pay for it heavily.

(ii) It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely-circulated fabrications in history. The people of Palestine are pure Arabs and original Semites. It is the Muslims who are the inheritors of Moses (peace be upon him) and the inheritors of the real Torah that has not been changed. Muslims believe in all of the Prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. If the followers of Moses have been promised a right to Palestine in the Torah, then the Muslims are the most worthy nation of this.

When the Muslims conquered Palestine and drove out the Romans, Palestine and Jerusalem returned to Islaam, the religion of all the Prophets peace be upon them. Therefore, the call to a historical right to Palestine cannot be raised against the Islamic Ummah that believes in all the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) - and we make no distinction between them.

(iii) The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone.

(b) You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon.

(c) Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis;

(i) These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so.

(ii) These governments give us a taste of humiliation, and places us in a large prison of fear and subdual.

(iii) These governments steal our Ummah's wealth and sell them to you at a paltry price.

(iv) These governments have surrendered to the Jews, and handed them most of Palestine, acknowledging the existence of their state over the dismembered limbs of their own people.

(v) The removal of these governments is an obligation upon us, and a necessary step to free the Ummah, to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from out fight against you.

(d) You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of you international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world.

(e) Your forces occupy our countries; you spread your military bases throughout them; you corrupt our lands, and you besiege our sanctities, to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuity of your pillage of our treasures.

(f) You have starved the Muslims of Iraq, where children die every day. It is a wonder that more than 1.5 million Iraqi children have died as a result of your sanctions, and you did not show concern. Yet when 3000 of your people died, the entire world rises and has not yet sat down.

(g) You have supported the Jews in their idea that Jerusalem is their eternal capital, and agreed to move your embassy there. With your help and under your protection, the Israelis are planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque. Under the protection of your weapons, Sharon entered the Al-Aqsa mosque, to pollute it as a preparation to capture and destroy it.

(2) These tragedies and calamities are only a few examples of your oppression and aggression against us. It is commanded by our religion and intellect that the oppressed have a right to return the aggression. Do not await anything from us but Jihad, resistance and revenge. Is it in any way rational to expect that after America has attacked us for more than half a century, that we will then leave her to live in security and peace?!!

(3) You may then dispute that all the above does not justify aggression against civilians, for crimes they did not commit and offenses in which they did not partake:

(a) This argument contradicts your continuous repetition that America is the land of freedom, and its leaders in this world. Therefore, the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.

(b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates.

(c) Also the American army is part of the American people. It is this very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.

(d) The American people are the ones who employ both their men and their women in the American Forces which attack us.

(e) This is why the American people cannot be not innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.

(f) Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge. Thus, if we are attacked, then we have the right to attack back. Whoever has destroyed our villages and towns, then we have the right to destroy their villages and towns. Whoever has stolen our wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy. And whoever has killed our civilians, then we have the right to kill theirs.

The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:

Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?

If Sharon is a man of peace in the eyes of Bush, then we are also men of peace!!! America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.

(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.

(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all.

It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honour, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their colour, sex, or language.

(b) It is the religion whose book - the Quran - will remained preserved and unchanged, after the other Divine books and messages have been changed. The Quran is the miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone to bring a book like the Quran or even ten verses like it.

(2) The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.

(a) We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest.

We call you to all of this that you may be freed from that which you have become caught up in; that you may be freed from the deceptive lies that you are a great nation, that your leaders spread amongst you to conceal from you the despicable state to which you have reached.

(b) It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind:

(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?

(ii) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions. Yet you build your economy and investments on Usury. As a result of this, in all its different forms and guises, the Jews have taken control of your economy, through which they have then taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense; precisely what Benjamin Franklin warned you against.

(iii) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants. You also permit drugs, and only forbid the trade of them, even though your nation is the largest consumer of them.

(iv) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality, and you consider them to be pillars of personal freedom. You have continued to sink down this abyss from level to level until incest has spread amongst you, in the face of which neither your sense of honour nor your laws object.

Who can forget your President Clinton's immoral acts committed in the official Oval office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he 'made a mistake', after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?

(v) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. The companies practice this as well, resulting in the investments becoming active and the criminals becoming rich.

(vi) You are a nation that exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools calling upon customers to purchase them. You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.

(vii) You are a nation that practices the trade of sex in all its forms, directly and indirectly. Giant corporations and establishments are established on this, under the name of art, entertainment, tourism and freedom, and other deceptive names you attribute to it.

(viii) And because of all this, you have been described in history as a nation that spreads diseases that were unknown to man in the past. Go ahead and boast to the nations of man, that you brought them AIDS as a Satanic American Invention.

(xi) You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and*industries.

(x) Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.

(xi) That which you are singled out for in the history of mankind, is that you have used your force to destroy mankind more than any other nation in history; not to defend principles and values, but to hasten to secure your interests and profits. You who dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, even though Japan was ready to negotiate an end to the war. How many acts of oppression, tyranny and injustice have you carried out, O callers to freedom?

(xii) Let us not forget one of your major characteristics: your duality in both manners and values; your hypocrisy in manners and principles. All*manners, principles and values have two scales: one for you and one for the others.

(a)The freedom and democracy that you call to is for yourselves and for white race only; as for the rest of the world, you impose upon them your monstrous, destructive policies and Governments, which you call the 'American friends'. Yet you prevent them from establishing democracies. When the Islamic party in Algeria wanted to practice democracy and they won the election, you unleashed your agents in the Algerian army onto them, and to attack them with tanks and guns, to imprison them and torture them - a new lesson from the 'American book of democracy'!!!

(b)Your policy on prohibiting and forcibly removing weapons of mass destruction to ensure world peace: it only applies to those countries which you do not permit to possess such weapons. As for the countries you consent to, such as Israel, then they are allowed to keep and use such weapons to defend their security. Anyone else who you suspect might be manufacturing or keeping these kinds of weapons, you call them criminals and you take military action against them.

(c)You are the last ones to respect the resolutions and policies of International Law, yet you claim to want to selectively punish anyone else who does the same. Israel has for more than 50 years been pushing UN resolutions and rules against the wall with the full support of America.

(d)As for the war criminals which you censure and form criminal courts for - you shamelessly ask that your own are granted immunity!! However, history will not forget the war crimes that you committed against the Muslims and the rest of the world; those you have killed in Japan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Iraq will remain a shame that you will never be able to escape. It will suffice to remind you of your latest war crimes in Afghanistan, in which densely populated innocent civilian villages were destroyed, bombs were dropped on mosques causing the roof of the mosque to come crashing down on the heads of the Muslims praying inside. You are the ones who broke the agreement with the Mujahideen when they left Qunduz, bombing them in Jangi fort, and killing more than 1,000 of your prisoners through suffocation and thirst. Allah alone knows how many people have died by torture at the hands of you and your agents. Your planes remain in the Afghan skies, looking for anyone remotely suspicious.

(e)You have claimed to be the vanguards of Human Rights, and your Ministry of Foreign affairs issues annual reports containing statistics of those countries that violate any Human Rights. However, all these things vanished when the Mujahideen hit you, and you then implemented the methods of the same documented governments that you used to curse. In America, you captured thousands the Muslims and Arabs, took them into custody with neither reason, court trial, nor even disclosing their names. You issued newer, harsher laws.

What happens in Guatanamo is a historical embarrassment to America and its values, and it screams into your faces - you hypocrites, "What is the value of your signature on any agreement or treaty?"

(3) What we call you to thirdly is to take an honest stance with yourselves - and I doubt you will do so - to discover that you are a nation without principles or manners, and that the values and principles to you are something which you merely demand from others, not that which you yourself must adhere to.

(4) We also advise you to stop supporting Israel, and to end your support of the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians against the Chechens and to also cease supporting the Manila Government against the Muslims in Southern Philippines.

(5) We also advise you to pack your luggage and get out of our lands. We desire for your goodness, guidance, and righteousness, so do not force us to send you back as cargo in coffins.

(6) Sixthly, we call upon you to end your support of the corrupt leaders in our countries. Do not interfere in our politics and method of education. Leave us alone, or else expect us in New York and Washington.

(7) We also call you to deal with us and interact with us on the basis of mutual interests and benefits, rather than the policies of sub dual, theft and occupation, and not to continue your policy of supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters for you.

If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation. The Nation of Monotheism, that puts complete trust on Allah and fears none other than Him. The Nation which is addressed by its Quran with the words: "Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him if you are believers. Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of believing people. And remove the anger of their (believers') hearts. Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." [Quran9:13-1]

The Nation of honour and respect:

"But honour, power and glory belong to Allah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad- peace be upon him) and to the believers." [Quran 63:8]

"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be*superior ( in victory )if you are indeed (true) believers" [Quran 3:139]

The Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life:

"Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive with their Lord, and they are being provided for. They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them from His bounty and rejoice for the sake of those who have not yet joined them, but are left behind (not yet martyred) that on them no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in a grace and a bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers." [Quran 3:169-171]

The Nation of victory and success that Allah has promised:

"It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists hate it." [Quran 61:9]

"Allah has decreed that 'Verily it is I and My Messengers who shall be victorious.' Verily Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty." [Quran 58:21]

The Islamic Nation that was able to dismiss and destroy the previous evil Empires like yourself; the Nation that rejects your attacks, wishes to remove your evils, and is prepared to fight you. You are well aware that the Islamic Nation, from the very core of its soul, despises your haughtiness and arrogance.

If the Americans refuse to listen to our advice and the goodness, guidance and righteousness that we call them to, then be aware that you will lose this Crusade Bush began, just like the other previous Crusades in which you were humiliated by the hands of the Mujahideen, fleeing to your home in great silence and disgrace. If the Americans do not respond, then their fate will be that of the Soviets who fled from Afghanistan to deal with their military defeat, political breakup, ideological downfall, and economic bankruptcy.

This is our message to the Americans, as an answer to theirs. Do they now know why we fight them and over which form of ignorance, by the permission of Allah, we shall be victorious?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Chilling.
And so well spoken.
This is no savage, but an educated man who truly hates us for our greed.
He is a horrible man, but we created him. In the future, this country must consider its actions may cause other Osama bin Ladens. If we are not careful and mindful of how our actions effect others, then it will never end.
Oct. 22nd, 2003 @ 02:24 pm

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