] In a little-noticed submission to the Federal Register,
] the FCC made clear its intention of levying astronomical
] fines against publications that use dashes or other
] characters in place of letters to print profanity.
]
] "They think they're getting away with it, but I still
] know what they're writing," said FCC Chairman Michael
] Powell, at a press conference attended by two homeless
] men and our reporter, who had been looking for the
] building's exit and felt guilty about leaving once he'd
] entered the room.
]
] Powell continued: "Recently, Entertainment Weekly quoted
] Tom Hanks - the saintly Tom Hanks! - using the word
] 'C-dash-dash-dash-sucker.' That's how they printed it,
] but they put the whole word in my head. They put it in my
] head."

I love his closing sentence there... 'They put it in my head'. Well here is one for your head, Michael Powell. F--K YOU, A--HOLE!

DeadBrain - FCC's New Indecency Target: Dashes in Magazines, Newspapers

ryan is the supernicety wrote:
] ] Senate bill 500, sponsored by conservative Republicans
] ] and members of the Green Party and libertarians, would
] ] add printers to Georgia’s 26,000 computerized voting
] ] booths so that officials have the ability to review any
] ] election.
] ]
] ] "What Senate bill 500 does is say there ought to be a
] ] paper trail. There ought to be a ballot like we did
] ] before that is cast for every single individual, so that
] ] if there's a problem or a question there's a check," said
] ] state Senator Tom Price (R-Roswell).
]
] Ryan -- we should find a way to support this...

thank GOD. Yea it WOULD be kinda nice to be able to review and verify the results of something trivial like an ELECTION OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS, wouldn't it? :)

I'm actually amazed the electronic voting machines were approved without any sort of checks and balances. No one was smart / brave enought to ask the tough questions... "what if the system crashes or is hacked? how can you verify how people voted?" -LB

RE: Atlanta,Georgia,11Alive,ATLANTA,News,Weather,Doppler,sports,events

] The press that didn't understand what the campaign was,
] now sees itself qualified to judge if its a success or
] not. Broadcast politics has failed us miserably. No
] debate about the Patriot Act. DMCA isn't being discussed
] during the mainstream media. Its all on the Internet.

I previously memed two different text versions of this, both of which had various gaps. Here is the actual audio. Stream it. This is 46 minutes of incredible stuff. Furthermore, this site has tons of other very good Etech talks archived. If you find something particularly notable please meme it.

I want to clearly explain what this talk is about. Trippi is a dull public speaker. However, his content is worth his monotone. This isn't about Dean. This isn't really about the democratic party. Obviously the democrats have a problem, in that the Republicans do a much better job a actually mobilizing grass roots support, and Trippi discusses that. Obviously Trippi is a democrat first and a dean supporter as well. However, and Trippi makes this clear, this is about who the political constituency is.

In working with EFGA in the mid nineties I dealt directly with the political system first hand, and I learned one thing primarily. Politics is about power. Unless you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the issue you are concerned with is of clear strategic importance to the viable operation of the country, or has unquestionable implications for established Constitutional law, you win or loose based on how powerful you are.

When I say power I mean real power. People usually operate on the naive belief that things like petitions and protests are effective at changing political decisions. This is wrong. No one cares what you think unless they are trying to keep the matter out of the press. If they don't have an interest in keeping the issue off the media radar, then they only care about your money, or your vote. If you want to influence the situation, you need to provide actual financial or direct voting assistance to a particular politician who will do what you want.

Most people just don't get that. They think the government ought to do what they want simply because this is a democracy and thats how democracy works. Wrong. The government does what you want because it does not have a choice. If you can't put the government in that position, you will not get what you want. That is what democracy is all about. Giving the people the ability to put the government in a position where it cannot operate in a manner contrary to their interests.

This talk is about who actually has the power. This talk is about who the political constituency is. Is the constituency built of the ruling class, that controls the party system and funds the campaigns, or is the constituency built of the actual people. Do we really have democratic institutions?

My wording their sounds conspiratoria... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Joe Trippi (Dean's Campaign Manager) at Etech

The computing world's venerable master/slave naming convention has come under fire by Los Angeles county officials who charge that this type of product description is offensive.

A discrimination complaint has been filed with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance after one county worker saw a video recording device with the "slave" and "master" tags, according to Reuters. The complaint was enough to call county officials into action, asking vendors to re-label their gear.

"Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors and obtained by Reuters.

"We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment components that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature," Sandoval said in the memo, which was distributed last week.

Sandoval has received some emails from angry technophiles suggesting that he be fired for his sweeping renaming proposal. The worker, however, maintains that he was not handing down an ultimatum for change but rather a suggestion that vendors see what they can do.

And all this time we thought the master/slave connection had its roots in the world of whips and chains -a notion supported by the dog collar-wearing admins.

In related news, Intel has called for server chief Mike Fister to change his name. ®

LA officials call for end to master/slave labels

] The 11th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
] Dictionary, published in June, defines a "McJob" as "a
] low-paying job that requires little skill and provides
] little opportunity for advancement."

CNN.com - Merriam-Webster: 'McJob' is here to stay - Nov. 11, 2003

] For the past seven months, I have been fighting for the
] right of all Americans to travel freely in our own
] country. CAPPS II, the Soviet-style internal border
] control system being pushed by the Department of Homeland
] Security, will strip us of that right, and make air
] travel a 'privilege' granted by government.

One cause probably worth donating to.

DontSpyOnUs :: What You Can Do To Stop CAPPS II

jessica wrote:
] ] PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Cheap Trick Avenue
] ] instead of Boardwalk? Hernando's Chop Shop instead of
] ] Reading Railroad?
] ]
] ] Black leaders are outraged over a new board game called
] ] "Ghettopoly" that has "playas" acting like pimps and game
] ] cards reading, "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to
] ] crack. Collect $50."

http://www.ghettopoly.com/

I want!

LB

RE: CNN.com - 'Ghettopoly' game causes outrage - Oct. 9, 2003

] Attorney General John Ashcroft on Monday ordered federal
] prosecutors to come down harder on criminal defendants,
] instructing them to seek maximum penalties and to limit
] the use of plea bargains.

I can't beleive I didn't hear about this for a week!

Dude, it totally makes sense... all criminals are terrorists. They're trying to undermine the fabric of good, clean, wholesome American society.

I move for one punishment for all crimes -- decapitation. That's right. Hack a computer that's not yours? Decapitation. Have an ounce of weed and a couple of baggies? Decapitation. Question authority, er, i mean, inflame opponents of the U.S. and corrupt the youth? Decaptitaion.

Also, seriously, we need to send a message to all the terrorist kids theiving intellectual property after school that we will not tolerate their actions and that they are responsible personally for the deaths of 9/11/2001.

Honestly, criminals are broken anyway, and you can't fix them, so cap 'em and make life better for all the good, law abiding sheep of the country.

My favorite part of this is the following :

[ "You want uniformity," Mercer said. "You don't want ]
[ someone's viewpoint or philosophy determining the ]
[ outcome. What we are after is eliminating disparity ]
[ from place to place and defendant to defendant when ]
[ the crime is the same." ]

Yeah, we should totally take the human element out of it. Breaking the law is breaking the law, and there's no difference between situations. Sentencing should be handled by a computer. Talk about uniformity. And while we're at it, we don't really need juries or lawyers either. I mean, you wouldn't be in court if you hadn't done anything wrong, right?

Federal prosecutors to seek maximum penalties

] Sept. 30, 2003 | JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- A
] 2-year-old girl survived on ketchup, mustard and dried
] pasta for nearly three weeks after she was left home
] alone while her mother served time in jail.

] The little girl had been left alone since her mother
] was jailed Sept. 10 for aggravated assault and petty
] theft. The mother was charged Monday with child abuse,
] and was being held Tuesday on $20,000 bond.

Salon.com News | Toddler recovering after 2 1/2 weeks alone

] According to ACLU legal papers, local police, acting at
] the direction of the Secret Service, violated the rights
] of protesters in two ways: people expressing views
] critical of the government were moved further away from
] public officials while those with pro-government views
] were allowed to remain closer; or everyone expressing a
] view was herded into what is commonly known as a
] protest zone, leaving those who merely
] observe, but express no view, to remain closer.

American Civil Liberties Union : Secret Service Ordered Local Police to Restrict Anti-Bush Protesters at Rallies, ACLU Charges in Unprecedented Nationwide Lawsuit