Category: Politics

Germany will Sensor the Internet

But of course it’s “for the children.” Germany passed an Internet censorship bill under the guise of stopping child pornography…

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4406608,00.html

This is always the first set in full government censorship. Find something almost everybody decries, make a law banning it, and further use that law to censor all free information exchange where that now illegal item can be obtained.

The bill as it stands right now doesn’t prevent a person from viewing a site deemed to contain child pornography it just makes them click through a displayed stop sign (and I’m sure record their IP address for government agents can come arrest them).

The problem I have with a bill involving any kind of censorship is this. If you give a government an inch they’ll take a mile. This is true of every government. Right now they will only censor child pornography but next it will be anything deeming sexually abnormal and eventually it will involve anything that speaks badly about the German government.

North Korea Makes Threat it Can’t Keep

More shenanigans from North Korea…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8104709.stm

A hilarious quote from North Koreas state run news agency…

If the US and its followers infringe upon our republic’s sovereignty even a bit, our military and people will launch a one hundred- or one thousand-fold retaliation with merciless military strike

OK North Korea can’t even hit us with one fold how do they expect to strike us with one hundred or one thousand (they’re not even sure which) fold attack? Personally I’m not too scared.

North Korea is like a young dog. It’s going to bite and rip things apart but in the end all you have to do is give it a good smack with a news paper and it’ll settle down.

Proving Once Again the European Union is Anti-Business

It never seems to end with the European Union. They bring up a well deserved anti-trust case against Microsoft. It ends in a fine, which Microsoft pays. The European Union also requires Microsoft to rip out applications in it’s operating system so Microsoft does so releasing special European only versions of it’s operating system. For instance there is going to be an Internet Explorer free version of Windows 7. Well apparently that doesn’t go far enough for the largest socialist coalition on Earth…

http://www.osnews.com/story/21662/EC_To_Pursue_Antitrust_Despite_Microsoft_s_IE_Move

The European Union not only wants Microsoft to remove its own browser they also want Microsoft to include competitors’ browsers. I’m calling bullshit on this right here, right now. I dislike Microsoft as much as many others because of what they have done to the industry through their illegal practices. But why should they not be allowed to include their own web browser? And why in the fuck should they be required to include competitors’ products?

The bottom line every modern operating system includes a web browser. Apple’s Mac OS includes Safari, Ubuntu includes Firefox, Android includes it’s own WebKit based browser, Heck Debian even includes Ice Weasel which is just Firefox with a different name. If no browser was included most people wouldn’t know what to do with their computer. Unlike those of us in the “tech savvy” world most people have no idea how to get a web browser without first having a web browser. If you removed Internet Explorer from Windows what do you think most people would do? Probably call their computer manufacturer’s tech support and as “What the fuck guys?”

As making Microsoft remove the browser is idiotic. But making them include their competition’s products is insane. Yes Microsoft are a convicted monopoly, yes they did illegal practices to get to where they are today, but making them include the competition’s products is about as anti-business as you get. Most people who want to use a different browser just get one. For instance the first thing I do on a new installation of Windows after applying the system updates is download a copy of Firefox, Chrome, or Safari (depending on the day).

The problem with including other companies’ products is that Microsoft has no control over them. Currently when a security hole is found in Internet Explorer (you know just about every day) Microsoft figures out the problem and usually fixes it. They can do this because it’s their product and they have control over it. Now let’s say Firefox is included in Windows. Microsoft has no control over any problems that may occur and would be at Mozilla’s mercy when it came to providing a fix. Granted Mozilla is good about providing fixes but if they stop for some reason that leave Microsoft in a shitty position. Not to mention Microsoft has no way of knowing if their competitors’ products won’t interfere with other software in Windows.

Also who is to say any of Microsoft’s competitors won’t provide a special version of their production to include into Windows which they will refuse to support? I doubt this would happen but if they did it would make Microsoft look bad not them browser’s creator. Not having control over your own product is not only difficult but dangerous.

Finally how will we determine which browsers will be included? There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of browser out there. Does Microsoft have to include them all? If so that’s probably a few more gigabytes of size that will need to be installed with the operating system. Do only browsers with at least 10% market share get included? Well that would only leave Mozilla. Of course that would be unfair to Chrome, Safari, etc. How do you get clueless users to determine what browser will be best for them? Most people use Internet Explorer because it’s there and as far as they are concerned it is the Internet. Many of these people would have no idea what to do when asked what web browser to install.

Honestly this is just another reason why I hate the European Union. It was a bad idea when it started and it’s only getting worse as it ages.

New Hampshire Might Hike Non-Resident Carry Permits

Rather depressing news here…

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=4955

New Hampshire has a budget proposal that will increase the price of their non-resident carry permits from $20.00 to $100.00. Speaking as a man with one of these permits I find this sad since one of the things I like about the permit was the price and the fact their permit approval system wasn’t nearly as backed up as everybody else’s. I hope this item gets the axe from the budget but I’m doubting it will.

Navy Forbidden to Wield Swords, Rail Guns OK

This is just a day of stories symbolizing stupidity in it’s purest sense. The Graduates from the Naval Academy won’t be allowed to use their ceremonial swords…

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/21/inside-the-beltway-97423759/

Graduating midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis are being told in writing to leave at home or in their vehicles all “ceremonial swords” and anything else “that might be considered a weapon or a threat by screeners” for Friday’s outdoor commencement ceremonies…

So let me get this straight they can’t be trusted with their ceremonial swords or anything other item that could be considered a weapon. Yet they can be trusted with fucking rail guns…

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_railgun_test_080129w/

Talk about a crock of shit. If you’re training this men and women for war then by God they should be trusted with weapons at all times.

Apparently AR-15s and AK-47s are Unreliable

Here is our idiot of the day…

http://www.cnbc.com/id/30266124#

Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania was asked about “assault weapons” on an CNN interview.

It’s nuts for ordinary citizens to go out and buy assault weapons. Assault weapons are difficult to operate, they jam easily, if you want a gun to protect your home it’s the last thing you should have.

That’s hilarious actually because I own several “assault weapons.” None of them are difficult to operate nor unreliable. Hell if you cant figure out how to operate an AR-15 or an AK-47 you’ve got issues. And both are pretty well known for being reliable rifles. If I needed to defend my home with a rifle (personally I’d prefer a shotgun in most cases) I’d certainly select one of the two.

Personally I like to call people out when they fuck up so here is his contact information…

225 Main Capitol Bldg.
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Phone: (717) 787-2500
Fax: (717) 772-8284

And of course his washington office…

1001 G St., NW, Ste. 400 E
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: (202) 638-3730
Fax: (202) 638-3516

And for completeness his e-mail address…

ra-govnews@state.pa.us

Go ahead and contract this man and inform him (be civil of course) why he’s wrong.

European Union Sues Sweden

Proving once again the European Union was a bad idea…

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/05/eu-sues-sweden-demands-law-requiring-isps-to-retain-data.ars

The European Union passed a law requiring ISPs to retain customer data “long enough to help police but not so long as to cause privacy concerns” (now THAT is some grade all bullshit). Sweden has not enacted this policy (probably because they have a little common sense left) so the European Union is suing.

I don’t know what they are going to get out of suing a member of their own union but like most things The Union does this is a pretty stupid idea.

And now for a side rant. If you just wanted the news article you can stop reading here. This side rant involves comments made on slashdot.org which I’ll link to in a bit. The actual rant is more to do with fanatic atheists though. First the link (do note because of the craptacularness of the comment system this may not take you to the actual thread I want, but hey I’m trying)…

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1247565&cid=28121785

What about this irritates me? Simple we have atheists who want to blame everything on religion. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against atheists or atheism in general. Just like I have nothing against Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or any other form of religion or lack thereof. But I do have a problem with the zealots in all of these groups who try to blame every other religion (yes I’m calling atheism a religion in this case) for the world’s problems.

Being I visit technology sites I get exposed to far more zealot atheists then any other type of zealot. They love nothing more then highjacking a conversation and using it as a soapbox to preach their faith (yes faith, because these people have a faith there is no deity/deities). At least on slashdot I’ve never noticed this behavior with any other religious group so these guys get pointed out.

Now the reason these guys piss me off. They are blaming religion as the one and only factor for terrorism in the world. These people are claiming if it weren’t for religion all would be well. Guess what guys you’re being hypocrites here. You are pretty much saying your group is so morally superior that if all other groups ceased to exist the world would be perfect. That’s hypocritical because that’s what all extremist religious people say. If you don’t want to be associated with religion and religious people STOP ACTING LIKE THEM (them being specifically the extremist zealots).

Anyways I just needed to get that out of my system.

FTC Considering Regulate Blogs

Well this figures, I was reading Snowflakes in Hell and came across a rather scary news article…

http://techdirt.com/articles/20090519/1030204931.shtml

The Federal Trade Commission is considering sticking their fingers in bloggers’ business. They want to require bloggers who review products to disclose whether the product being reviewed was given to them, is a sponsor’s product, or if the reviewer is getting paid to do the review.

Up next requiring bloggers to be “fair and balanced.”

Source: http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2009/05/21/government-looking-to-regulate-blogs/

Right to Repair Automobile Law Put Forth

It’s about time a law was put forth that removes all the barriers between automobile computers and their owners…

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/right-repair-law-pro

Strangely enough it’s being proposed by Bob Barr and Ralph Nader. I never thought I’d see a day when these two people agreed on something.

The bill would make proprietary computer systems with lockout mechanism illegal for use in automobiles. As it stands right now automotive manufacturers like to make their vehicles as hard to work on as possible. They do this because they make a huge chunk of change when you bring your car in for work. This would allow a person to diagnose their own problem and possible fix it themselves or have an independent mechanic do it (which is normally a LOT cheaper).