Wild lays the smack down:

] Inside the United States, where the war began, we
] must continue to give homeland security and law
] enforcement personnel every tool they need to defend
] us, the president said, noting that key provisions
] of the Patriot Act were set to expire next year.
]
] The terrorist threat will not expire on that
] schedule, he told lawmakers. Our law
] enforcement needs this vital legislation to protect our
] citizens. You need to renew the Patriot Act."

Fuck you Ashcroft. We are not interested in more Patriot Act. We do not live in the middle east. We live in America. We have rights and civil liberties built by our forefathers. You strip those from us and leave us with only what our forefathers would be rolling in their grave to learn about. You are not making me safer from terrorism by reading my bank account statemets without court concent but by dropping bombs on tents where terrorist reside. Also, you are not providing due process to those terrorist that reside in the United States. You only lock them up and throw away the key. Why not show the world our court system and due process and what happens to people/groups that carry out evil deeds.

Let the Patriot Act die is deserved death and bring on the guns and bombs where the real war of terrorism is fought.

MSNBC - Bush makes case for second term

The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March.

US Withdraws Weapons Hunters From Iraq

] So we asked a dozen experts in fields that are apt to
] touch all our lives this year -- privacy, defense, spam,
] security, open source, technology development, life
] online and human rights -- to answer this question: "What
] do you wish would happen in 2004, and what do you think
] will actually happen?"

Wired News: The Fantasy and Reality of 2004

The name says it all, just play it.

Escape From Neverland

] Libya wants to solve all problems and we want to focus on
] development and advancing our country. This (weapons)
] programme does not benefit our people or country... We
] want to have ties with America and Britain because this
] is in the interest of our people.

Saddam's capture has overshadowed two other major wins for the administration this week. The first was Iran's agreement to allow inspections of it's nuclear facilities. The second was Libya's disarmament agreement. In the wake of the Iraq war a number of our enemies have decided that opposing us is counter productive.

BBC NEWS | Africa | World reaction to Libya's decision

American military officials confirmed today that Saddam Hussein had been captured alive in Tikrit on Saturday night.

They confirmed that it was him based on DNA evidence.

Not that I suspect they have the wrong guy, but this IS bullshit. You can't confirm identity using DNA tests. DNA tests can prove that someone is not the same as the person who contributed the sample material, but not the other way around.

In Baghdad, huge crowds celebrated in the streets with gunfire.

Saddam Hussein Captured Alive; Iraqis Celebrate

] Can it really be President Bush's position
] that Taiwan is not permitted to hold any
] democratic referenda on any subjects whatsoever?
]
] The president's statement today is a mistake.
] Appeasement of a dictatorship simply invites
] further attempts at intimidation. Standing with
] democratic Taiwan would secure stability in East
] Asia. Seeming to reward Beijing's bullying
] will not.

I have to say I strongly support the NeoCons on this one. Bush's comments may be to our short term diplomatic advantage, but they are so at the price of being totally illogical. Should the people of Taiwan not be able to express their views on China through a democratic process? The mind boggles and the blood boils!

NeoCons oppose Bush on Taiwan

Shorty wrote:
] ] Meetup with others to discuss current news and events. No
] ] particular viewpoint is required, just an interest in
] ] what's going on in the world. Bring an open mind.
]
] I suggested the current events meetup this summer but as far
] as I can tell there have never been enough people signed up to
] make this happen (at least here in Atlanta). If you're
] interested, sign up!

Well, I would do this, but the 20th is the day I'm heading up to Nashville for Xmas! I wonder if I shouldn't try holding regular MemeStreams meetups next year... Any thoughts?

RE: International Current Events Meetup Day -- Join other Current Event Followers near Atlanta, GA

] A U.S.-Canadian government investigation of the massive
] Aug. 14 power outage in the Northeast singles out a
] series of operators' mistakes, computer failures,
] violations of grid rules and inadequate maintenance by
] FirstEnergy Corp., the Akron-based utility serving
] northern Ohio, as the primary causes of the largest
] blackout in North American history.

You probably already knew this, but in case you didn't get the memo...

Investigators Pinpoint Cause of August Blackout (washingtonpost.com)

flynn23 wrote:
] 1) Do you feel as though your rights and freedoms are being
] infringed in the digital realm?

Rights are constantly threatened. People are trying to use anti-porn laws to wipe any controversial speech out of the net, or at least out of the school and library (surf control's usenet news category). Discussion about security systems is frequently threatened with prosecution. Some discussion of e-voting has been sued away... Deep linking... personal websites with humor or artistic purpose that make use of trademarked or copyrighted material... fan fiction... small/personal internet radio is almost impossible; people don't see it as a viable alternative to running micro-power or college/community stations because the royalties have priced it out of the market... Copyright is now eternal, and the public domain almost not existent. Innovative approaches to art/media, and the consumption of art/media are frequently illegal, and usually the policy is sue first and ask question later.

Basically, the situation is far too litigious. Individuals don't have the resources to defend themselves from suits, even ones that are unreasonable. The result is that speech by individuals has been chilled on a wide scale. The people who can speak are the ones who are big enough to take a lawsuit. This has made the network undemocratic. Only the rich have a voice. Everyone has a printing press, but the rich are the only ones who can face the consequences of using one.

The recent spat of DRM laws makes the situation even worse. Not only are we stopping you from speaking with laws, we're forcing you to buy technology that stops you from speaking. Not directly mind you, but indirectly. By eliminating the public domain. By preventing you from remixing and recontextualizing content. By preventing innovation.

] 2) Do you feel as though you have adequate power to protect
] these rights and freedoms?

No. I cannot defend myself against a frivolous suit by a large company. I cannot stop Congress from passing laws that are dramatically not in my interests. Congress follows the interests of the people with the power, and right now the public interest has no power in this arena.

] 3) Do you feel as though the EFF is an adequate tool to
] protect these rights and freedoms for you (or en masse)?

They have succeeded in many many respects. Right now they are our best hope. However, they have also failed in several respects. This is because they can only advise before passage, and sue after passage. If the laws we oppose are held constitutional (like the copyright extension), then there is nothing the EFF can do.

] 4) Do you feel that another group (or groups) might be
] necessary to ensure that these rights and freedoms are
] protected?

We need to throw people out of office. Congress only responds to those with power. The only way that Congress will respond to the public interest... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

RE: a decent proposal?