Public Stupidity in Whitewater

So what exactly is wrong with anonymous free speech? If you're a public figure, especially in a position of power, anonymous critique is construed as an open, if faceless, assault. And with great power, usually comes great irresponsibility. Rather than welcome criticism as an opportunity for improvement -- a perspective that any public servant should take when facing heat from their constituents -- most counterattack. That is the case currently being played out in the backwater town of Whitewater, Wisconsin, where John Adams, an anonymous blogger is raining on the stupidity of public officials there. In response, the police chief, James Coan, is using city employees to play detective to unmask John Adams.

Can we say misuse of public resources, folks?

Apparently not, say Coan and his cohorts in government. The the police, the blogger "seems like an anti-government radical." Yes, criticizing the people who work for you is considered radical by some. WTF?

Taxi To The Dark Side

ThinkProgress is reporting that Taxi to the Dark Side, a documentary about an innocent Afghan taxi driver tortured to death by America at the Bagram Air Base, will finally be aired, thanks to HBO. HBO picked up the film from Discovery Channel, after Discovery broke its contract to broadcast the film before the 2008 elections. Discovery was afraid of the controversy that may result, which would potentially impact a planned IPO.

Let this be a reminder that media companies are not public. They are private businesses. They have a responsibility to their shareholders first and foremost, and have absolutely no responsibility to the public.

Check out the trailer here.

Wikileaks

Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" Vanity asks the question, "Is it popular?" But, conscience asks the question, "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

And with that quote, Wikileaks loads. The site is hosted by PRQ of Sweden, a company owned by two founders of the Pirate Bay, and as it turns out, PRQ is just as hostile to legal assault, as Pirate Bay is. Wikileaks, in case you haven't heard, is a very public whistleblowing site. It publishes the secrets no one else will touch, and the have no regard for the consequences of their actions. It's anarchy, internet style.

Here's how the site describes itself:

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact. Our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by all types of people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.

[More.]

Head on over and take a gander at the truth. Then participate, and set the world free.

Stupid Old Men

The Economist is running an article on the ongoing debate of how much accommodation should be given to religions that wish to regulate the lives of their faithful -- especially when they conflict with the laws of the land. This isn't a debate just about Islam and Sharia law -- although that's where the noise has been coming from recently. Religious law and its practice has had a long and rich history in the world's preeminent democracies -- and it has always been a fine line in the court of civic society. As the article points out, the Jews, the Amish, the Christians -- they've all had their share of making binding pronoucements from their respective pulpits. But where does it end?

In my opinion, it should have ended before it began. Compromises should not be made to the law of the land, and religion should definitely not play a role in the determining or application of law -- including the ritual swearing on holy books. It is an increasing global state we live in and the dictates of one's beliefs should not be binding on even the believers. Laws should be applied equally to everyone. I realize there are opposite ends of the spectrum involved here, but I'm not for compromising on this score. The article cites as an example, Sikhs in BC, who are allowed to ride motorcycles without helmets. That's wrong, and is a perversion of our collective social agreement to compromise on that account. Should Sikhs in motorcycle accidents be given the same medical attention for head injuries? Their religious beliefs represent a financial burden to society. Simply put, the Sikh religion doesn't allow its adherents to ride motorcycles -- at least in Canada.

If you follow the trail of relgious law, you'll eventually get back to some old guy, in a white beard, most likely wearing a costume that includes a really ugly hat. I'm sorry, but I don't think we want society under the dictate of their whims.

Killing Girls for Allah

There are some parts of the world that is dying need of a revolution. One such place is Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi religious police, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, prevented firefighters from rescuing girls from a burning school building, because they were not wearing the abaya. Men who attempted to rescue the girls were stopped, with the police telling them "it is a sinful to approach them." As a result, 15 girls were burned alive.

Free Speech's Dead End

Censorship of the internet is a growing problem worldwide, and is growing in favour in developed nations, where those charged with fighting terrorism, repeatedly bleat for the suppression of the internet -- for the filtering and monitoring of sites their citizens visit. For now, internet censorship may be far from our minds, but when does it move from the fighting terrorism to the prohibiting of free speech? Censorship around the world is orchestrated by a few -- those in power, usually authoritarian regimes -- who decide that citizens would be harmed if they were exposed to information about religion, sexuality, culture and worse, politics. The concern for these regimes is only for the preservation of their status quo. A servile populace can only remain obedient if they are ignorant and live in fear.

The promise of the internet as a vehicle of social change is a frightening prospect for repressive regimes -- and those within our country, who fear change. The world shrinks with communication. It did so with the advent of radio and television, and it continues to do so with the internet. Today with the click of a button, virtually anywhere in the world can be visited. The power of linking ordinary citizens without the mediation or scrutiny of their government, is powerful. We move from a world with borders to one where activists can find supporters in the most unlikely of places. In a world teetering on the brink, risks can be removed by citizens who don't have a self-interest in power, but in collaboration for the greater good. The more we learn of each other, the more we come to the realization that we're not so different. The more we realize that those who preach hatred; who deal in the currency of fear; are void of any moral footing, and the louder the voices of reason will be.

How petrified are the repressive regimes? In the liberated Afghanistan, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a 23-year-old journalism student, was arrested, tried and sentenced to death by his country's religious judges for downloading a report from a Farsi website -- a report which challenged the oppression of women by islamic fundamentalists as a distorted interpretation of the koran. Kambaksh distributed the report to fellow students and professors in an effort to provoke a debate. Instead, a complaint was filed, he was arrested, tried in secrecy, without a defence, and condemned to death. Without the internet, Kambaksh would not be in this predicament, or have the moral outrage to want to make change. Without the internet, Kambaksh may not have a chance of an acquittal.

You can do something about this by adding your voice in remonstrance. Canada has huge commitments for infrastructure rebuilding in Afghanistan. We have influence. Contact Maxime Bernier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and tell him to stop this.

• Foreign Affairs office number: 613-995-1874
• Bernier at the House of Commons: 613-992-8053 (Fax: 613-995-0687)
• Bernier's email address: BerniM@parl.gc.ca

You can also contact the Afghanistan embassy in Canada at:

240 Argyle Ave.
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1B9
Phone: (613) 563-4223 / 65 Fax: (613) 563-4962
email: contact@afghanemb-canada.net.

A message can also be sent to the Afghan government via this online petition. Where the internet isn't censored and monitored yet, we can still use it to make a difference. Make a difference so that in the future, you won't find yourself in Kambaksh's shoes.

The Friendly Face of the TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), part of the US Homeland Security department, has launched a blog, and want to hear from you, and how you feel about their latest efforts to take the terrorism out of your next flying experience -- and preferably, give it to you while you're still in the airport being screened. Not sure what the TSA is trying to accomplish with the blog. Are they trying to explain themselves to the flying public? Piss them off even more? Show a softer side? Whatever the case, from the comments that are rolling in, people have things to say about the TSA.

If you have a moment, head over and have your say. They're not really tracking IP addresses, and no, commenting will not have to submit to new forms of security probes as a result of visiting their blog. That's just you being paranoid.

Harry Potter & The Well of Scammers

Nigerian scambaiting at its best -- here the baiter got the Nigerian scammers to copy, by hand, the entire contents of a Harry Potter novel. It doesn't get any better!

Intolerance

Intolerance is a well practiced; well documented; universal; and comes in many guises. Even in Canada, we're not safe from intolerance. Someone may hate you for reasons you can't begin to imagine. It could be the colour of your skin, your religious affiliation (or lack thereof), your political ideology or sexual orientation. I just came across a forum posting, titled, Why Gays Fight Back. The content is very disturbing. It contains graphic images of the intolerance towards gays from around the world. There is an image of a 3-year-old Ronnie Parris, killed by his father for being potentially gay. Ronnie's father belongs to an evangelical church that preaches a strong anti-gay message.

There is only one reason to be intolerant -- and that is to be intolerant of intolerance itself. We can all make a difference if we speak up against intolerance when it is happening. The worse we can do is remain silent.

Wild, Wild West

It's extraordinary how absolute power corrupts. In the case of America, the only superpower left in the world -- that power is rotting the core of America -- its justice system. The Bush Administration made it legal in their adventures against terrorism, to kidnap foreign nationals, on foreign soil, and drag them off to the Guantanamo purgatory. Now it appears that law can be leveraged against any foreign national, suspected of running afoul of American law, to be kidnapped and brought back to America to face American justice.

The Times Online reports on a senior lawyer in the American government, who recently told a British judge in a British court, that American law allows America to kidnap British citizens and bring them to justice in America. In this stance, there is no respect international law, or the laws of other nations. This is a case of might equaling right. I wonder what the American response would be if other nations started doing likewise. I believe George W. Bush has had charges brought against him in other nations, for violating their laws in actions he authorized in his "war on terror." Would it sit well with America to have their president kidnapped to face ... hmm ... let's see ... Iranian justice?

When will the American people shake off their political lethargy and join the rest of the world in condemnation of their uncivilized laws and actions? More and more the line between the terrorists and those that profess to wage war against them are blurring. All because of a select few currently in power.

Internet Jihad

Islamic terrorists don't hail from just the Middle East. They're now originating from our own western democracies. Young men, inspired by a strict interpretation is Islam and fanciful promises of never ending virgins for martyrs, are entering a fantasy world, where the killing of innocents is the objective. As important as terrorist cells and training camps in Africa and the borders of Pakistan are, they pale in comparison to the importance of the internet for terrorists. The internet represents the ultimate borderless landscape. With near-anonymiity, freedom of expression and unparalleled access to a world audience, the new breed of cyber terrorist exhibit the same fearlessness and bravado as those who remove their social filters when anonymously commenting on the internet. For these individuals, far removed from a war zone or a scene of murder, cyber-terrorism probably feels a bit like a game. It's anything but a game however. Cyber terrorists serve the most important function in the arsenal of terrorism: propaganda and the dissemination of training information. It hardly matters whether Osama bin Laden is still alive. Terrorism doesn't need a central figure anymore. The internet has provided a network bin Laden could never have built on his own. A network he probably doesn't even understand -- if he's still alive -- but a network that certainly understand. It's disappointing then, that cyber-terrorism isn't being addressed in Bush's "global war on terrorism." Where's the US propaganda machine? In their response to terrorism, America continues to be reactionary -- not realizing that as much as the war needs to be fought with bombs, it must also be fought with ideas and information.

Medical Patents

Here's a scary bit of news ... there's a growing trend in the medical industry of doctors gaining patent protection over surgical techniques, procedures and methods -- then leveraging the courts to enforce their patents in order to gain monetary compensation. Thankfully, this form of patent protection hasn't been used to prevent the practice of medicine -- so patient care has thus far been unaffected. Patent holders have instead been suing medical equipment manufacturers. The fear does exist however, that if this slippery slope is allowed to continue, then surely it's only a matter of time before someone is sued for having a patent-protected procedure used on them.

Another reason why the patent process needs overhauling.

Stuffed Cardboard Buns

Chinese food quality is making the rounds in the news in North America. Food quality is also making the news in China. Yesterday, as I flew out of Shanghai, I heard the news of an undercover TV crew that busted a dim-sum restaurant in Beijing's Chaoyang District. The restaurant, in a effort to save money amid rising pork prices, started to cut their steamed pork-stuffed buns with cardboard.

The recipe went like this: Cardboard was soaked in water and an industrial-use caustic soda, a poisonous chemical, was added. The cardboard lost its normal color and became fragile under the soda's strong causticity, making it look more like pork. Finally, pork-smell essence and pork fat were stirred into the concoction to make the stuffing more "vivid."

Product quality in China is suspect, and to be fair, China is starting to take product quality seriously. Earlier this month China executed the State Food and Drug Administration director, Zheng Xiaoyu, for taking bribes to look the other way on food and drug quality. The execution was a signal -- but hardly the end. A heck of a lot more needs to be done.

Zero Tolerance

What happens when zero tolerance rules are in place? What happens when it's in place in the Texas, in the food ole U.S. of A.? What happens? Insanity rules and all semblance of intelligence -- if there ever was any -- departs. In the case of 12-year-old Shelby Sendelbach in the Katy Independent School District, you get a 4-month suspension for writing "I love Alex" in marker on the wall of the school gym. The same punishment that is reserved for making terrorist threats, possessing drug and assaulting someone. What does a society do when this madness takes over?

'Attempted' Copyright Infringement

The latest on intellectual property protection south of the border, comes courtesy of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Bush Administration. They are seeking to ensure that their friends of the old guard can continue to milk profits from content, regardless of fair use rights. Copyright infringement is already against the law, but Gonzales is now proposing that attempting to commit piracy should also be a crime, punishable by America law.

Considering that close to 80% of internet traffic is from file sharing activities -- and just making a wild guess to say that at least half of those people are partaking in copyright infringement, exposes a whole lot of people to potential jail time. Is it just me, or is there a huge disconnect with reality on the part of the Bush Administration and their business supporters? Believe it or not, a whole lot of people aren't looking for jail time, but neither are looking for draconian measures on how they can consume content they've purchased.

Just in case you think that not living in the US offers you any type of protection against, think again. There was a recent case of an Australian being extradited to the US to stand trial for software piracy. With compliant national governments around the world, working to appease America, no one is safe -- except maybe, the Iranians and North Koreans.

The Murder of Du'a Khalil Aswad

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it for a lot of things -- one of them being fundamentalists. I would wipe the lot of them, regardless of the dogma they subscribe to, right off the planet. I wouldn't waste time on inflicting horrors before their existence is negated -- I would be in too much of a hurry to just get rid of them all.

What has caused my blood to boil is the news coming out of Iraq of the "honour killing" of 17-year-old Du'a Khalil Aswad, last month. Aswad was condemned to death by the men of her family, for being in love with a Sunni Muslim boy -- Aswad is a Yezidi. She was hiding out in the house of a Yezidi tribal leader in a small town outside of the Kurdish capital of Mosul, when 8-9 men stormed the house and dragged her out to the street. They then proceeded to stone her for half-hour, until she died. A large crowd looked on, including security authorities. The entire incident was filmed and the story only broke when the video made it onto the internet.

Her name is Du'a Khalil Aswad. She was a girl. Men and religion murdered her. Her story should never be forgotten.

Patent Pirates

Altitude Capital Partners, Coller Capital, Rembrandt IP Management and Northwater Capital are venture capital firms with billions of dollars between them, and out to make a quick, easy buck at the expense of others. These dubious venture capital firms are in the business of funding patent trolls -- companies that either file or buy patents with the sole purpose of going to court to collect billions from others who may have developed similar technology or processes protected by patents in-hand. Forbes reports on their war chests, patents secured, and litigation game plan. The whole practice is obscene and a misuse of the law. Read more, and if you're a technology company, be afraid ... be ah-fwaid!

Jon Stewart on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

The Raw Story has a clip of the Daily Shows commentary on the US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales answers to the queries of both Democrats and Republicans at the Senate hearings into Justice Department's firings of US State Attorneys. In his commentary, Jon Stewart channels Dick Cheney, to coach Gonzales. Says the dick via his televised medium, "You gotta piss lightning and crap thunder, Alberto!" As usual, Stewart is hilarious.

"You fucking Arab!"

Something stinks in Joliet, IL. An officer from the local police force, noticed a van parked on the driveway of Kuldip Singh Nag's house with expired registration tags. The officer instructed Nag, a Sikh, to move the vehicle into his garage. The van was inoperable, and Nag had the audacity to point out that on his private property, he could actually park the van wherever he wanted to -- including his driveway.

According to Nag and his wife, what followed was bizarre. The officer pulled out a can of pepper spray, sprayed Nag in the eyes, then proceeded to beat him with his baton, while yelling, "You fucking Arab! You fucking immigrant, go back to your fucking country before I kill you!" Nag stayed in the hospital a few days to recover, after suffering head injuries, bruises and temporary blindness.

Now clearly, something is just not right here. Even I'm having a hard time believing this. But I can't see the motivation for the cop to do what he did. WTF? Even if Nag was asking for it -- police brutality? And the words? True? Actually, after reading about similar police brutality episodes -- and seeing the clips first hand on YouTube, maybe this bizarre episode did happen. But how stupid of a cop do you have to be to pull this one off? Was an episode of America's Stupidest Cops being filmed at that moment?

To make matters worse, Nag is a bronze star vet of the US Navy, who served his country during the first Gulf War.

US Justice Going to Hell

The political machinations of justice in America continues under the Bush Administration. For those who don't know, the Bush Administration, via Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, fired eight US Attorneys that were appointed by the Administration, under questionable circumstances. Critics have argued that the attorneys simply didn't follow the mandate of their appointments, and focus on the prosecution of Democrats -- but rather, started investigating the wrongdoings of Republicans. Has the Bush Administration ever done anything that wasn't politically motivated? Well, not really.

The latest in the escalating travesty of the Justice Department comes with the political appointments of Monica Goodling and Rachel Paulose -- two attorneys way over their heads in the positions they were placed in -- but great candidates for the Bush Administration to elevate. Both apparently love the Bible, and are have no qualms with dancing to the Administration's tune. Their impact on justice in America will not be known for sometime, however, if current events are any indication, justice is really going to hell.

Updated:

Monica M. Goodling, senior counsel to Alberto Gonzales and the Justice Department's liaison to the White House, previously implicated in the firings of US Attorneys, has promptly quit her job after refusing to testify before Congress. Read more.