I have an idea to end this debate. Just execute pedophiles and rapists. Yes, I've spent plenty of time today complaining about privacy and government intrusion in our lives, but I draw the line at legitimate sex offenders. We don't need these people, and they're more trouble than they're worth, so let's just get rid of them.

While we're on the subject of privacy, this may be worth looking at - a tool to give you anonymity in your web surfing. It comes at the cost of performance, but I haven't tried it out yet to see what exactly that performance impact is.

A good overview of a recent legislative draft that is being referred to as "PATRIOT-II". Granted, this is coming from the EFF, a very liberal organization, but their analysis is fair. PATRIOT-II would expand the government's powers, reduce oversight, and remove the predication of terrorist activities from many of the priginal PATRIOT Act's provisions. Some people think this is a good thing, while others like the EFF, do not.

Fuck.

You all know my views on file sharing from a couple of days ago, but this is bullshit. The judge in the case makes mention of "mistakes, abuse or harassment, that has yet to occur." You see, that's exactly why precedents like this are bad. No, abuse hasn't occurred, yet. Once the RIAA knows it can get away with this shit, it will continue to do so. Not all ISPs are as willing to protect their customers as Verizon. I can think of plenty of instances of ISPs and whatnot who were served notice, and immediately complied without question. Probable cause will go down the toilet, PATRIOT Act style... Which is about on par with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Some more on North Korea.

You know, Kim Jong Il and his government are a bunch of belligerent motherfuckers, but you can kinda see where they're coming from. After all, they're in the "Axis of Evil", as so named by our 5-year-old president. We're already gone after one member of the axis-schmaxis (I can't seriously call it an Axis when I think of, oh, I don't know, 1940s Germany and Japan), who we handily defeated. So they have some reason to be afraid that we're going to come after them, and their assertion that they need a strong deterrent is right on. Doesn't mean they'll win, but it's the only way they can do some damage.

Good to see that the economy is still in the toilet.

One thing I keep getting sick of hearing is how we're in a 'jobless recovery'. Um, if people are still out of work, and more getting laid off every day, we're not in a recovery. Another thing is how I've actually been hearing that we're in danger of falling into another recession, when I didn't think we ever got out of the first one. Oh, wait, we did. We recovered from that, just in jobless fashion.

Wait, I thought the Iraqis got to choose.

Also, Bush says he wants an Iraqi government that is, among other things, at peace with its neighbors. With an American puppet government in place, how is that going to happen, since nearly everyone around Iraq fucking hates us? Seriously, how would you feel if the Great Satan moved in next door?

Why don't they just start putting an asterisk next to every statement we make to the Iraqis? Seriously, some asterisks and footnotes would really help clear things up. Take for example:

Bush: "We will help that nation build a government of, by and for the Iraqi people" *
...
* - provided we approve of their choices

See? Much better.

Is this really even news? I didn't bother to read most of the article, but who gives a fuck that Scott Peterson is reveiving mail and visitors in prison? This isn't the fucking gulag, of course he's getting those things.

This saga is really going to suck if this is the point they're already at with their "reporting".

It's great to see North Korea keeping up the threats. Let's hope they're bluffing. I's standard practice for N. Korea to make threats like this, but at least before they didn't have nuclear weapons to back that up.

One thing that pisses me off is hearing our leaders talk about the "will of the international community" and multilateralism. Sure, those are great, provided the international community is in line with what we want.

Yeah, back off, Iraqis. Running your country is our fucking job.

Sweet fucking Christ, lay off the French already.

The quote from Ari Fuckhead Fleischer that France's opposition to the war "has put a strain on the relationship" is bloody infuriating. That's right, the tension between us is all France's fault. It has nothing to do with our imperialistic, fuck-the-rest-of-the-world, America knows best attitude and a completely uncompromising push for the war that led to the strain. That's a typical American attitude for you - it's always someone else's fault.

Good, fuck 'em.

Can someone explain to me how this is respectful of the separation of church and state? I mean, it gives preferential treatment in some form or other to religious entities. And by religious entities, I mean Christian entities. I am so fucking sick of this faith-based bullshit, just because the implication is always that it's better because it's Jesus. Here's the deal, Godrammers: you're not better just because you believe in Jesus. I know it doesn't do shit to say that, which is just sad.

The fact that the President is saying shit like people who are against his initiative "don't understand the power of faith" is just fucking obscene. You know what, Georgie? We don't have to understand any "power" because we may or may not believe in all that. And again, it's just patronizing rhetoric; my faith is powerful and all that shit, and you just don't get it, you ignorant heathen.

Who knows at this point how pissed Hans Blix is, and whether or not he has an ax to grind against the U.S. No matter what, there definitely needs to be someone besides the U.S. military in there looking for weapons if any finds are going to be credible.

Welcome to the Springs, fuck you.

Conservative fucks.

Well, it appears to have worked against Syria, so might as well start stepping up the rhetoric against Iran.

Damn, this sounds like a cool ad.

What comes around, goes around. Or is it what goes around, comes around? Sounds stupid both ways.

Shouldn't someone have been keeping a closer eye on this guy? I mean, the crux of this case was a fucking suicide pact. Maybe he just felt bad, and finally decided to hold up his end of the deal.

CNN's back to pissing me off. At the beginning of this article, they state that the Republicans are holding their convention late to avoid conflict with the Olympics. But as is pointed out here, the convention could have been held before the Olympics.

Why do they have to treat everyone as if they're fucking stupid? Oh, because most people are fucking stupid. Either way, it seems pretty obvious that the timing of the convention is a coolly calculated effort. It's not unexpected, but that doesn't mean that it isn't fucking dirty.

Oh, Jesus.

Sorry about that, but that was just too awful to have to be reading alone.

Rick Santorum is a fucking idiot. Not as if this wasn't known before, but he' gone above and beyond the call of duty on this one.

Is anyone out there really concerned that incest is going to be legalized any time soon? No, not anyone who can think. This is the most ignorant statement uttered (at least with regards to homosexuality) since Trent "Ignorant Man Talking" Lott asserted that homosexuality was a disease, and one that could be cured like alcoholism.

I haven't gotten through all of the jokes, but a few of these guys win.

The "What's 18 inches long and makes women scream all night?" is probably the most offensive joke I've heard since "What's long and hard and fucks old people?"

If you go to "The Prewar Era" section of this everything2 entry, you can see one potential reason as to why German-centric references are so prevalent in Anime and video games.

Okay, so I just read the following quote on TIME's website. It's from Jay Garner, the de facto leader of the American Puppet Administration in Iraq:

"[Vietnam] took too long... If President Bush had been President, we would have won."

This is the man in charge of rebuilding Iraq? Wow.

At first, this article made me think "Damn, those Russians are tough bastards if they're putting cats in prison." Upon reading the article, though, I realized that these cats belonged to the human inmates - something the writer of this article didn't make that clear at the outset.

"Your honor, I shouldn't have to pay her alimony."
"Why not?"
"Because she's a bitch"

How is indoctrinating Iraqis with pro-American propaganda any better than what Saddam was doing in that realm? Oh yeah - because we're Americans, and we're better than everyone else, and everyone else should love us no matter what.

Also, that quite from Henry Hyde just shows what a fucking idiot he is, and how out of touch our leaders are with shit that's going on in the real world.

Jesus, corporations are assholes. This is a fucking report with reccomendations of peoples' health; research results shouldn't be negotiable.

Yeah, we'll see.

Yeah, kinda like I was saying earlier.

Oh yeah, in my rant earlier, I forgot the reason I got really pissed about the Bush administration and its backing of the RIAA. I get really nervous when I hear about ISPs being subpoenad for user information. As if privacy isn't under attack as it is in this country, we always have more shit like this piled on top.

Yeah, I know what people like to say - if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be worried. If anyone knows shit about American culture, you will know that there's always plenty to be worried about. You know, I freely admit to downloading lots of internet pr0n, but if I want to keep that shit secret, that's my right. If nothing else, you should be able to keep lots of things private simply because some things are no one else's fucking business.

This sucks, but isn't really much of a surprise. Just another indicator as to how things are not going to be changing anytime soon.

The thing is, how the fuck can things change, even with things like the appointment of a Palestinian Prime Minister? I mean, the guy was hand-picked by Arafat, so that already seems to imply a conflict of interest.

Of course, Abbas decides to show some balls (for whatever reasons he has), and Arafat throws a fit. So even if there is no conflict of interest, we end up with this situation. In the end, they're going to have a premiership that is shaped by Arafat. Stubbornness like that, which exists on both sides of the confilict, is going to keep the conflict going for a long, long time.

You know what? Fuck the Bush Administration.

Here's the deal on this whole music sharing business: everyone is wrong. People swapping music are wrong. Artists are wrong. The RIAA is wrong.

Here's the deal: people like free shit. Nothing beats free stuff, except for free sex. Hell, even paid sex probably beats some free stuff, but I'm losing focus here. You know who really likes free stuff? College students, because so many of them are fucking broke. In the end, though, music swapping is illegal, and it does harm music sales. Stay with me here for a second.

Here's why it's illegal. Let me get this straight: I can get something for free, that normally I would have to pay for? How is that not illegal?

People, the kind you find prevalent on Slashdot, like to argue that music piracy actually helps music sales. Here's one reason why it actually hurts music sales. I have seen people with cases full of nothing but burned CDs. I know that there have got to be tons more people out there who are like that. Are there other things that hurt music sales? Sure, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Finally, in my tough-love-for-the-college-kids segment, here's an end to one of their stupid arguments. They always being up the fact that the music industry fought against things like cassette tapes, and lost. They argue that this is the same fair use situation - only it isn't. With recording things on cassette, it wasn't very easy to immediately distribute music to potentially millions of users, unlike with internet file swapping.

That being said, recording artists are nothing but a bunch of whiny pussies. I wanted to vomit everytime Lars got in front of a microphone and started complaining about "control over his myuuusic". You don't make music Lars, you make noise.

Okay, look, my hammering on Lars is partly because I think Metallica blows ass, except for the Black Album. Anyway, the artists you always heard complaining were ones who are fucking rich. They're not coming out against Napster and whatnot because they're offended as artists, they're coming out because they're offended as capitalists. Napster is not taking food out of your kids' mouths, Dre. You could buy other peoples' children and feed them to your children if it ever got really bad, so knock it off.

You never really heard a lot of lesser known artists making such a big stink about this, ya know. Which makes sense, because file sharing actually does have benefits for lesser known or completely unknown artists.

Finally, the (dire) RIAA is nothing but a bunch of fucking asshole pricks. Yes, they have some good points, but I don't care for their blitzkrieg tactics. This idea that they're suing four college students is obscene, because they know that the lawsuit will do nothing but make an example. That's not justice; that's McCarthyism.

While file sharing does hurt music sales, the RIAA needs to realize that it's not the only thing harming music sales. Another detriment to sales is the fact that there's a lot of shitty fucking music out there. It seems like mainstream music is nothing more than the same noisy, uninteresting, rehashed crap. Every new act I see seems like a bad re-make of Korn and Limp Bizkit, two bands no one has cared about for like two fucking years.

In the end, lots of people are weirdo fundamentalists, and they will pay for something that they feel deserves being paid for. I have downloaded entire albums on MP3, and then gone and paid for the actual fucking album. But there are still some people who are more interested in dollars than principle.

I also think the RIAA is just pissed off because they haven't figured out a way to make file sharing work to their advantage. Since they're not clever enough for that, they're just going to sue the idea into oblivion. Greedy fucks, just like the "artists" they represent.

I guess what I'm realy trying to say to everyone on each side of this file sharing debate is, shut the fuck up.

You know, I just realized something. Well, I think I've known this, but it's really started to sink in. There's a good chance we may never know what the fucking deal was with Saddam and his weapons. Here's another article on a potential "big find", but the progress is so shrouded in secrecy that it's gonna make people wonder. Oh, and then there's the fact that every "big find" so far has turned out to be nothing.

I find this kind of interesting. The conservatives were the ones backing Tony Blair in this drive to war, and now they're pressing for justification for the war.

I suppose it's entirely possible that they're not all that confident in the existence of WMD anymore, and they're just trying to cover their own asses. Or they could just be trying to do the decent thing, but that's something we're not used to with politicians.

I doubt this will piss anyone off.

This is probably the best summary I've seen of that fucking game Halo that they tried to cram down our throats to get us to buy an XBOX. This also really summarizes how I feel about first-person shooters.