So, remember that wiretapping thing?

I logged on today fully intending to write a nice, lighthearted post about something innocuous, like my dogs or my honey or my new boots or the cool punk mix I made yesterday. Then, I surfed the internet like I always do, and now I am in the same mood I was in yesterday, so I guess we’ll have to be serious again.

Remember the NSA wiretapping fiasco? Remember how relieved we all were that the courts were slapping the administration’s wrist and reigning them in from spying on their own citizens without cause, provocation or warrant?

Well, I guess our congresscritters figured The Decider should really have free reign (pun intended), what with the new torture policy, his being pardoned for all past war crimes, and the death of habeus corpus yesterday.

The House tanked FISA by approving warrantless wiretaps on Thursday. You can read all about it here.

Let’s take a quick tally:

• Livin’ the thug life is now our national way: torture legalized

• The Decider decided he’d like a do-over and he really wouldn’t look all that hot in prison on the end of a Bubba stick, so he pardoned himself for all crimes past and present

• The House decided that the citizens they were elected to represent didn’t really mean it, and did away with FISA protection

• Rest in pieces, habeus corpus

What does that leave us? George Bush, Gangsta’ King and his Congressional Posse.

I feel much better knowing that, don’t you?

Hopefully the Supremes will step up to the plate and put the kibosh on this obviously unconstitutional series of legislative decisions. Hopefully.

Hat tip to MJ for catching this today.

Now Listening: My new punk mix

Tags: The Decider FISA NSA Torture Pardon Detainment

Apropos of Nothing

Regarding my Senator, Sununu:

I am still upset that he is coming down on the wrong side of Network Neutrality, especially in the face of the new torture legislature that makes it all too apparant how important an internet with freedom to speak is going to be for us in these ensuing years. That said, I am incredibly proud that he was on the right side of the torture bill and voted against it. Thank you, Mr. Sununu.

Now Listening: Stiff Little Fingers

Tags: torture political prisoners arrest us citizens network neutrality detainees

The Net Neutrality Issue is Not Dead (Yet), People

As you all know, I recently moved my blog here from a Blogger account. It didn’t occur to me to turn off comments until just now. When I went back to do so, I had a new one under one of my Network Neutrality posts.

Here is the comment, received 9/28/06:

Anonymous said…
They already voted on this and the net isn’t neutral any more, though I appreciate that non technical people are picking up on this and think it’s important. You are absolutely right. It’s very important.

Thing is, for now, all the ISP’s are scared to act on it. The ISPs are afraid that if they get slower than the rest, for anything but the morphine that the major media outlets spoonfeed for the masses, that people will jump ship and join up with their competitors.

So they will collude and do it all the same time once they figure out that it’s the only way they will survive while gouging media outlets (and screwing people like us in the process) for as much money as possible. Rest assured they are plotting the move.

It’s all very sickening but it will happen eventually.

See I’ve been on this internet thing since before it was called the internet. I’ve watched it slowly head in this direction. It started with banners and quickly went downhill from there.

I really miss running a BBS on a commodore 64 with my friends… human communication wasn’t meant to be a revenue stream. Humans being what they are, always manage to screw a good thing up in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

-Neil

11:12 PM

And here is my reply:

Leslie said…
Few things upset me more than a defeatist. One of them is a woefully misinformed defeatist.

The House defeated its version of a Network Neutrality preservation clause in its TelCom legislation. The Senate has not sent its legislation to the floor for a vote yet.

There is, in fact, still time to lobby for Net Neutrality. I suggest getting on the horn with your Senator. If you truly have been net active since the golden days of BBS and phreaking then you know how important it is.

You can read more about the Senate legislation progress, which could neutralize the House legislation if passed with Net Neutrality preservation language included, here: http://savetheinternet.com/blog/

Call your Senator people!

12:18 AM

I hope my tone wasn’t harsh, but one thing will guaran-damn-tee we lose this fight: the average citizen doing what it does best – getting tired of thinking too hard and tossing in the towel, because it’s easier to just watch some cable. Unless you only paid to have the bronze package. Then you’re screwed.

Now Listening: The Pixies – Mix CD

Tags: Network Neutrality

Bush Pardons Himself For War Crimes

This speaks for itself. If you’re still not angry, you are not paying attention.

UPDATE 9/29/06:

In a stunning defeat of morals and honor, the Senate passed this bill. I am stunned, but not surprised.

Now Listening: Pins Dropping, Pigs Flying and Cows Coming Home

Tags: Bush, Torture, Miserable Failure, Failure, War Crimes

Banned Books Week Has Begun

Banned books week has begun over at American Fiction, so be sure to check it out. Celebrate Banned Books Week September 23 through 30, 2006. The ALA website has some nice printouts and study aids for teachers and librarians as well.

To tide you over here and on The Writer’s Well, let me share a book recommendation link with you all:

What Should I Read Next is a neat little AI program I found through a Ze Frank viewer that will recommend a book for you to read when you’re having trouble deciding for yourself.

Bear With Us

as we get used to our new digs at HostDepartment and our new blog software, WordPress.

I realize our affiliate links are missing, our stats are down and my links are a shambles. I also realize how much I hate this blog design now that I’m seeing it live. So expect all that to change, but most likely not until after Tuesday. Deadlines loom in the writing world.

So comment, let me know any suggestions for a better design, and I’ll see you when I’m done cranking out the corporate word for the corporate pesetas.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you… I moved my other blog, too. You can find it here. I actually like how that design came out.

I am also working on a series for my American Fiction gig in honor of Banned Books Week. Three of the promised Banned Books Week articles will be posted tonight before bed (psst: for me before bed means around 3 am). Those two blogs should tide you over until I get back!

PS: If anyone can tell me how to make my old blog template that I love so much work in Word Press, which uses a programming language I’ve never played with before and am having to learn as I go, I will buy them a cookie. Maybe even two cookies. Perhaps also a beer.

UPDATED 9/25 TO ADD: The design was driving me so KRAZEE that I just went back to the default theme for now. I’ll work on fixing the craptacular design later this week, for now, please forgive me for cheating and using the default theme. Hey, at least you can read it now…

Tags: smoke rings and coffee stains

Have You Called Your Senator Yet?

Don’t waste time! Call now! Even if your senator, like mine, is on the wrong side of the Net Neutrality issue, try to change their minds and make them for Net Neutrality. If they are already for it, call and thank them for listening to their constituents. It’s not too late. Save the Internet, save yourselves.

Vlogger Amanda says it much better than I can here.

Now Listening: The Cramps

Tags: Save the Internet Network Neutrality

Get Ready for Banned Books Week

September 23 – 30, 2006 is Banned Books Week.

Wear a t-shirt declaring your support for free speech and make people aware that books are still being banned in this century.

Read a banned book in public and talk about it with the people around you.

Talk about banning books with your students. Open discussions on the reasoning behind banning books, free speech and whether or not an idea can be an instrument of harm or change.

However you celebrate the power of the written word, be sure to honor a banned book this week.

Books are constantly being banned for reasons including politics, religion, sexual taboo, race and general “subversiveness”. Even J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series isn’t safe from the shackles of a book ban. Following are the top ten classic novels that have fallen under the axe repeatedly over the years:

Ulysses, James Joyce

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert

The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D. H. Lawrence

Moll Flanders, Daniel Dafoe

Candide, Voltaire

Keep an eye on my American Fiction site and The Writer’s Well over the next two weeks for a series of articles on Banned Books Week.

Now Listening: Nekromantix Curse of the Coffin

Tags: Banned Books Week

Some Macintosh Goodies

…to break up all the serious posting I’ve been doing lately. Enjoy!

Make use of the motion sensor with this.

Some Mac OS X hacking tools can be found here.

This is a nice page of Mac Keyboard Shortcuts.

This site offers iMovie Tips.

Try Adium for using multiple instant messenger programs at once. (PC converts, think Trillian, but better)

Try Smultron for your code editor.

Another code editor I’ve heard that people like is called Textmate. They also make a version of NotePad for the Mac, if you need that.

I hear nice things about CopyWrite for the Mac, however; I use WriteItNow and love it.

I use Safari whenever possible to surf the net. I adore its slick look and streamlined feel. When I have to, I use Firefox. Another up and coming option is Flock.

Did you know that you can clear out the icons folder in Safari and then make it read-only to prevent those stupid favicons getting piled up and bogging you down? Go to your home folder/library/safari/icons and clear the icons folder, then make it read only. All set! No more favicon slowdown.

I do not recommend using Apple Mail program for your email. It flat out does not have enough features and stability for email design, sorting or storage. You can’t make stationary files for business clients or anything else you can do in most email programs.

Eudora works quite well on a Mac, and does have some of the features that Mail lacks.

For organization issues, this usually ships as preinstalled Mac software. I’m assuming they haven’t changed that.

They had been shipping with this installed as well, which is a lot of fun.

If your Mac Book is running hot, try this fix.

A nice list of Open Source apps for the Mac can be found at this website.

Get some Mac protection in case of theft.

MAMP is a better web developer/server app for the Mac.

Handy Lorum Ipsum widget for Mac.

Dear, dear readers, please tell me you did not get the MacBook with BootCamp and Windows. Windows (and BootCamp) are as hacker vulnerable on a Mac as they are on a PC. It is Mac’s OS that keeps it 99% hacker free. If you got Windows, you get a “Shame on you! Now go get some virus protection that is NOT Norton.” Also, a better alternative to BootCamp if you must run Windows is Parallels.

I would wait on Photoshop for a while and use Gimp. Adobe is ALWAYS the last to update their software for the latest, greatest Mac OS version, and in keeping with tradition will not have their Tiger-native version out for a few more months. Photoshop works on the Mac, and isn’t agonizingly slow, but it isn’t optimized for top speed yet either.

Do you know of still more Mac Goodies? Put them in the comments! I love goodies!

Now Listening: silence, ahhhh, silence

Tags: Apple Macintosh Mac iMac iBook MacBook eMac

Someone I Like Very Much Asked A 9-11 Question

today (of course), and instead of replying where she asked it, I decided to reply here, where more people could see my response.

The question:

What are you all doing, if anything? We’re spending the day reading and watching CNN for homeschooling. I think it’s so important for us not to forget what happened and how completely unjustified the attacks were.

CNN has so many resources. There are lots of video clips, interviews and memories written by observers/survivors. I think that there are things that even younger children can handle.

My response:

Why should we continue to allow the administration to use this day for their political gain? I’m so disappointed to see hyped, over dramatized 9-11 threads and news stories still popping up.

I had friends who escaped death in the towers that day and friends who didn’t. It was excruciatingly sad, and a little scary.

Did New Yorkers pull together as a city that day? Absolutely. It was a huge outpouring of help, hope, unity and friendship. In following days, many people came in to New york from other places to help physically, and many people sent clothing, money and other necessities for the families of those killed. That was beautiful, true unity, and all too short-lived.

Did we “pull together” as a whole nation? No, not really. We all flew little flags for a while though, until thinking about 9-11 got too complex or too painful. We swallowed the lies of people who were supposed to be our leaders and marched our children into war without protest. We swallowed more lies from the “powers that be” and began to hate our fellow man and look for scapegoats in different colored skin practicing any different religion. All of this for what?

So many countries around the world deal with so much worse on a daily basis than the loss of one landmark and damage to another one. We lost lives: thousands of civilian lives and the lives of our policemen and firemen who came to help.

The people who volunteered their time for the cleanup and the people who were there to save lives that day are dealing with lasting health effects that the administration is ignoring in favor of using the “brand” 9-11™ for political collateral.

We have engineered the dissolution of our Constitution and ideals ourselves as a nation over this, signing away the rights and freedoms our country was founded on for the illusion of safety.

We should be vigilant in our protection of this country’s ideals, and stand for tolerance, free thought and free speech. Instead, we stand for nothing and fall for anything.

9-11 has become a symbol of what is wrong with our country and the current administration, instead of what it should be: a symbol of perseverance in the face of adversity.

Now Listening: Stephen Lynch The Craig Machine

Tags: 9-11