Daily Nonsense

As we wind down the worst presidency in the history of this once great country it behooves us to reflect upon the man and the myth that is George W. Bush.

And so, I present to you, a daily ‘Bushism’ or two…..

"It’s evolutionary, going from governor to president, and this is a significant step, to be able to vote for yourself on the ballot, and I’ll be able to do so next fall, I hope."
-George W. Bush

"People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I’ll give you an example; I don’t read what’s handed to me. People say, ‘Here, here’s your speech, or here’s an idea for a speech.’ They’re changed. Trust me."
-George W. Bush

"We want our teachers to be trained so they can meet the obligations, their obligations as teachers. We want them to know how to teach the science of reading. In order to make sure there’s not this kind of federal—federal cufflink."
-George W. Bush

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The proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement hopes to crackdown on pirating of music and DVDs and the counterfeit labeling of goods by enacting draconian laws in the member states.  The Australian government  seems to be looking at a plan to start searching MP3 players at airport security checkpoints. The reason?  To seek out and destroy illegally pirated music.

I was under the impression that having to submit to the TSA and two hour wait times at the airport was to protect us from weapons or explosives or even, (god forbid), crazed terrorists with a Google map printout and some iconic landmark that has offended them in some way.  But to even consider using the already incompetent and inept TSA security rabble to search through my electronic devices seems like a guaranteed plan to add hours to my my airport ‘check-in’ times.

And how are these otherwise unemployable high school graduates going to determine if any one particular song has been pirated?  What criteria will that use to cull the legal from the illegal?

Australian Government Proposes Checking MP3 Players at Airports
By Brian X. Chen – July 30, 2008 | 6:23:36 PM

Walking through the airport-security checkpoint could get even more annoying if guards start checking travelers’ MP3 players for pirated music.

News Digital Media sheds light on a leaked document containing the Australian government’s plans to search music devices in airports in the effort to combat illegal-music downloads. The proposal is also being considered in an international treaty, which includes the United States. If the proposal goes through, anybody caught with illegal music would be subject to fines or even jail time.

Before you freak out and toss your iPod into a lake, keep in mind this is just a proposal. It would need to be thoroughly discussed and agreed upon before it would be implemented. I can’t imagine this even working logistically: Airports are crowded (and inefficient) enough, and it would take forever to scan someone’s MP3 playlist. And how would they determine which songs are pirated anyway?

Some reports have speculated that the RIAA has a hand in this proposal, which wouldn’t be a surprise. Scanning our service providers isn’t enough; now they want airport employees to dig into our pockets. Classy.

[Thanks, Wired]

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As we wind down the worst presidency in the history of this once great country it behooves us to reflect upon the man and the myth that is George W. Bush.

And so, I present to you, a daily ‘Bushism’ or two…..

"It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature.”
-G.W. Bush

"I understand small business growth. I was one."
-G.W. Bush

"The senator has got to understand if he’s going to have—he can’t have it both ways. He can’t take the high horse and then claim the low road."
-G.W. Bush

Ray Beckerman, well known for his selfless defense of individuals sued by the Music And Film Industry Association of America otherwise known as the MAFIAA (doesn’t that seem fitting??), has published a paper in the American Bar Association’s Judge’s Journal that describes how the RIAA intimidates pursues it’s questionable legal actions against supposed file sharers.

Intended to educate, Beckerman discusses the legal and technical challenges in dealing with this type of suit.  I think that there are going to be tougher venues in the very near future where the RIAA will not be allowed the same kind of free rein and classic strong-arm tactics it has become vilified for in the past.

Judges warned about RIAA antics
The jaws that bite the teeth that gnash

By Nick Farrell: Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 8:33 AM

AMERICA’S TOP JUDGES have been briefed on the antics of the Recording Industry Association of America.

New York attorney Ray Beckerman has written a paper for the American Bar Association’s Judge’s Journal’s bumper summer issue.

Beckerman, who defends people sued by the MAFIAA, told judges about the finer points of case law relating to the wave of P2P cases.

Called Large Recording Companies v The Defenseless, the article explains RIAA lawyers’ method of working, which he thinks are getting dodgier as time wears on.

The bulk of the article looks at legal matters concerning venue, jurisdiction, dismissal, discovery, confidentiality, legal fees and default judgments.

One of the central issues which judges have faced in deciding on P2P cases are the huge amounts of case law and a lack of knowledge of the technical problems.

If the robed but not wigged ones read the missive they are certainly going to get a perspective that the music industry would not like.

L’Inq
Beckermanlegal.com

That link above leads to a copy of the article.

[Thanks, The Inquirer]

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In a very interesting twist, Denise Barker has challenged the RIAA and the constitutionality of the fines that they have been collecting.  Admitting to the file sharing itself, Barker and her lawyer Ray Beckerman have challenged the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, the law  which the allowed the RIAA to sue Barker.

The fines the act authorizes for each download is unconstitutionally excessive and against U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Beckerman said.  Rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts say financial punishments exceeding a 9-to-1 ratio are unconstitutional.

This will be one to watch.

New RIAA Lawsuit Defense Tactic: Admit Liability, Challenge the Law

By David Kravets July 28, 2008 | 6:53:00 PMCategories: RIAA Litigation

Here’s a unique defense to a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit: Admit liability and challenge the law under which you’re being sued.

That’s what a Bronx woman did Monday in New York federal court (.pdf). Denise Barker is accused of file sharing eight songs on the Kazaa network in 2004. If found liable, she faces fines under the Copyright Act of $750 to $150,000 per song.

Barker’s attorney, Ray Beckerman, admitted the woman file shared and challenged the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, the law under which the RIAA sued Barker and thousands of others. The fines the act authorizes for each download is unconstitutionally excessive and against U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Beckerman said.

Beckerman, who writes the Recording Industry vs The People blog, estimated its costs the industry $3.50 per download, meaning the penalties could exceed thousands of times the actual injury to the industry. Rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts say financial punishments exceeding a 9-to-1 ratio are unconstitutional.

"It’s an ideal case to litigate the damages issue. She actually did make some copies through Kazaa," Beckerman said in a telephone interview.

The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 individuals for illegal file sharing. Most of the accused settle out of court for a few thousand dollars.

Only one case has gone to trial.

In that case, A Duluth, Minnesota jury last year ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $222,000 for file sharing 24 songs on Kazaa. She denied her guilt and challenged (.pdf) the constitutionality of the Copyright Act after she was found liable in October.

The Bush administration weighed-in, urging Judge Michael Davis to uphold the penalty.

A hearing in Thomas’ case was set for Monday, where the arguments instead are expected to focus on the so-called "making available" argument.

The RIAA claims that file sharers are liable for infringement solely for making available copyrighted works of music on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Among the reasons the RIAA makes such an argument is because it’s technologically impossible to know if a file sharer’s music has been downloaded by somebody who has not been authorized to copy it.

The judge in the Thomas case is considering ordering a new trial. He’s concerned that he erred when he instructed jurors in October that the "making available" argument amounted to unauthorized distribution.

Illustration courtesy chazlarson

[Thanks, Wired]

While browsing on the Interwebs today I found this article that discusses 6 technologies that don’t know they are dead.  And the first one I saw, the phonebook, has been a thorn in my side now for so many years I just had to post it.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I used a physical phonebook.  Really, I’m not just being dramatic.  We’ve had broadband Internet for at least 6 years, so it’s been at least that much time.

So, for at least six years I’ve been stumbling over three separate SERIES of phonebooks on my front porch each year.  You’ve got your Dex, your Quest publication and your ‘Real’ Yellow Pages (whatever the heck that means).  So, three times a year I dump the phonebooks into the recycle bin and felt abused for a couple of days.  Abused because of the tree that had to die so that a #13.9 billion dollar industry could stay alive.  What a waste.

Slate has a nice article about the senseless and archaic icons of the 1960’s and ’70’s ‘reach out and touch someone’ campaign.  But right now I’m more interested in the 6 Technologies that just won’t die.

Tech Zombies: 6 Technologies That Don’t Know They’re Dead

By CRACKED Staff, Luke McKinney

#6. Phone Books

An incredible 615 million phone books were printed last year, most of which were used to replace missing legs on sofas or were ripped apart in Youtube videos.

About another million tons of these useless blocks will be shipped out to households and offices next year, where an increasing number will make a U Turn at the front porch and head to the landfill without ever being opened. William Rathke, an anthropologist who studies garbage, says you can "dig a trench through a landfill and you will see layers of phone books like geographical strata or layers of cake." Rathke, who despite digging through trash for a living has his Ph.D. from Harvard, claims phone books account for about 10-30% of the trash at your local dump.

In an era when you can fit many gigabytes onto a device small enough to be swallowed by a cat and even your local bait shop has a website, phone companies still want us to find phone numbers the same way we did 100 years ago: by dragging out a bulky, ten-pound list printed on dead trees.

Why are they still around?
Since you’ve probably never opened one, you may not realize that phone books are chock full of so many ads that they generated $13.9 billion last year. That sort of makes sense when you realize these ads are being force fed to every single household in America, like giant bricks of spam just appearing on your porch once a year. The only difference is you can click out of a pop up ad. Phone books weigh 10 lbs and have to be disposed of in special ways, to avoid becoming even more than 30% of your local landfill. Yes, it would appear that Satan works in advertising, and he’s damn good at what he does.

But even though it reaches twice as many homes as the Super Bowl, does it get past the doorstep of those homes anymore? Are there really $13.9 billion worth of people using them? Well yes, if you believe the phone companies, and the people they’ve paid to conduct surveys. And in an industry with no sales figures (because nobody asked for the damn things in the first place) how else are you going to track who actually uses them?

Well there is one way. You could go hunting around in landfills to see if the phone books were thrown away all at once right when everyone got them, creating entire layers of phone book in the earth. You know, like a cake? But who’s bat shit crazy enough to do something like that?

[Thanks, Cracked.com]

Craig Ferguson:   “Barack Obama was in Germany” today, and “he did this speech and 100,000 people showed up. There were so many Germans shouting and screaming that France…surrendered just in case.”

Jimmy Kimmel:   “It was…surprising” and “kind of exciting. They really love Barack Obama in Germany. He’s like a rock star over there,” which is “impressive until you realize that David Hasselhoff is also like a rock star over there.”

I don’t quite understand the tactics of either the Congress or the Senate.  Rather than enjoy the next 178 days impeaching both of the liars and thieves we have in the White House, they would prefer to incessantly question someone like Michael Mukasey, the newest stain on the Justice Department.  Maybe they are simple enough to get a kick out of hearing ‘I don’t recall’ stated in 2,467 different ways.

Personally, I was bored with hearing that phrase back when Rumsfeld was uttering it to Ray McGovern, but my elected officials in Washington either can’t get enough of it or can’t recognize it as the bullshit that it is.

I recently stumbled across this NPR article from the 10th of July that pretty much sums it all up, they know he’s wasting their time, but would rather hold another committee meeting.

Panel Accuses Mukasey Of Maintaining Status Quo
by Ari Shapiro

NPR.org, July 9, 2008 · When Michael Mukasey became attorney general eight months ago, Democrats were hopeful that he would take an aggressive role in overhauling the Justice Department, which had become embroiled in various scandals over the last few years. At a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing Wednesday, Democrats told Mukasey that so far, they have been disappointed.

The committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), accused Mukasey of reneging on his promise to review and potentially withdraw Justice Department legal opinions that authorized controversial national security policies. In written closing remarks, Leahy said, "I wish you were more focused on restoring the department’s role as protector of the rule of law. Instead, you seem content to serve as a caretaker."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) accused Mukasey of a "pronounced reluctance to look backward into the problems at the Department of Justice."

And Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) listed ways in which she said she believes the department was politicized in the last few years, including civil rights enforcement, hiring of immigration judges, U.S. attorney firings, detainee treatment and spying laws. Feinstein concluded her litany by telling Mukasey: "In the view of many of us, the department has lost enormous credibility."

The attorney general told Feinstein that he has made policy changes in some areas but that many others are already being investigated. "When those reports are received," he said, "they will be acted upon."

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) asked why Mukasey has not done more to hold accountable people who were faulted in a recent Inspector General report documenting politicized hiring in the prestigious Justice Department Honors Program. Mukasey replied, "To the extent there is to be accountability, that was covered in the [Inspector General] report."

Whitehouse seemed to capture the frustration many Democrats feel with the Justice Department, saying, "If we can’t be assured that you’re looking backward, we can’t be assured that it’s been cleaned up. And if we can’t be assured it’s cleaned up, we can’t be satisfied that the Department of Justice is back where it needs to be."

Looking forward, Feingold asked about a proposed set of guidelines that would let the FBI investigate Americans based on a profile that could include the person’s race or ethnicity, even if the person isn’t suspected of a crime.

Mukasey told Feingold that a person’s race alone would not be enough to open an investigation.

Feingold then asked whether a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent who traveled frequently to Pakistan would be subject to investigation by the FBI. Mukasey replied that he was not prepared to discuss hypothetical situations.

He said Judiciary Committee members would have an opportunity to review the final policy before it is released.

[Thanks, NPR]

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As we wind down the worst presidency in the history of this once great country it behooves us to reflect upon the man and the myth that is George W. Bush.

And so, I present to you, a daily ‘Bushism’ or two…..

"How do you know if you don’t measure if you have a system that simply suckles kids through?"
-G.W. Bush

"If you’re sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign."
-G.W. Bush

"I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists."
-G.W. Bush

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Randy Pausch star of the YouTube video Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, passed away on July 25th.  The 48 year old Carnegie Mellon University professor became an overnight sensation when his upbeat final lecture was posted on both YouTube and at the Carnegie Mellon web sites.

Today I came across a web page which had distilled a lot of that final lecture into 20 inspirational quotes.  Nowhere near a substitute for the one hour and sixteen minute lecture, the list does embody the underlying simplicity that marked Randy’s talk.

Use this in conjunction with the lecture, not in lieu of the lecture.

1. Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day, because there’s no other way to play it.
2. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
3. We don’t beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well.
4. It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, it’s all about leading your life. If you lead your life in a right way, karma will take care of itself. And dreams will come to you.
5. If I only had three words of advice, they would be, tell the truth. If I got three more words, I’d add, all the time.
6. The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!
7. Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.
8. Better to fail spectacularly than do something mediocre.
9. Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
10. When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him.
11. Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
12. Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you. It might even take years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting.
13. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
14. Don’t complain. Just work harder. That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him.
15. Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.
16. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.
17. If you’re going to do anything that pioneering you will get those arrows in the back, and you just have to put up with it.
18. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.
19. I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish.
20. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.

[Thanks, Be Life Savvy]

You can buy Randy’s book at Amazon.

As we wind down the worst presidency in the history of this once great country it behooves us to reflect upon the man and the myth that is George W. Bush.

And so, I present to you, a daily ‘Bushism’ or two…..

"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case."
-G.W. Bush

"I’ve changed my style somewhat, as you know. I’m less—I pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell it from this show. And I’m more interacting with people."
-G.W. Bush

"We ought to make the pie higher."
-G.W. Bush

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On September 26, 2002, freedom loving United States Immigration and Naturalization Service agents detained Mahar Arar as he waited for a connecting flight to Montreal.  He had just flown in from Tunisia.

In the first know act of "extraordinary rendition" to be conducted on American soil, Mr. Arar was deported to Syria where he spent the next year being interrogated and tortured by Syrian and American intelligence officers.

Three members of the House Judiciary Committee recently petitioned US Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, to appoint a special counsel to investigate the incident.  Citing the need for the special counsel to "show the U.S. government was willing to conduct a fair investigation into serious allegations of wrongdoing.", the reasonable request was contemptuously dismissed by Mukasey as unwarranted "at this time."

I wonder why these Democrats continue to pursue these futile attempts at justice?  As long as there is a Republican in the White House with tools and lapdogs holding our highest offices of trust, Justice will not be served.  Maybe we can revisit the whole question in 178 days.

Arar special counsel unwarranted: U.S.

JAMES VICINI, Reuters
Published: Thursday, July 24

WASHINGTON – Attorney-General Michael Mukasey said yesterday he had rejected a request from lawmakers that an outside special counsel investigate the case of a Canadian taken off a plane in New York and sent to Syria, where he says he was tortured.

Mukasey said under questioning at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that he did not believe that a special counsel was warranted "at this time."

Maher Arar, a Syrian-born software engineer, was taken into custody by U.S. officials during a 2002 stopover in New York while on his way home to Canada and then deported to Syria because of suspected links to Al-Qa’ida.

Arar says he was imprisoned in Syria for a year and tortured. His case has become a sore spot in U.S.-Canada relations.

Three committee Democrats sent a letter July 10 asking Mukasey to appoint an outside special counsel to investigate and prosecute any violations of federal criminal laws.

They said a special counsel would ensure the investigation is thorough, impartial and independent, and would show the U.S. government was willing to conduct a fair investigation into serious allegations of wrongdoing.

Two lawmakers who sought the outside investigation, including committee chairman Representative John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, criticized Mukasey’s decision.

Conyers said Mukasey had continued the "unfortunate tradition" of refusing to appoint a special counsel not only in the Arar case, but also for President George W. Bush’s warrantless surveillance program and for the CIA’s use of waterboarding for terrorism suspects.

Representative William Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts, cited testimony last month that U.S. officials may have sent Arar to Syria, rather than Canada, because they knew of the likelihood of torture.

[Thanks, Montreal Gazette]

Man, you gotta’ figure that when the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN won’t hold a cell phone to his head there might just be something to that old rumor about tumors.  I wonder if Teddy Kennedy was a habitual cell phone abuser?  His particular type of tumor, a glioma, is featured in this scary story from a medical site!

Again, all I can say is YIKES!  (I wonder if that blue tooth headset is helping or contributing to the issue??)

Why Brain Surgeons Are Avoiding Cell Phones

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cell phones next to their ears. Dr. Keith Black, Dr. Vini Khurana, and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta all maintained that the practice could be unsafe.

Along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s recent diagnosis of a glioma, a type of tumor that critics have long associated with cell phone use, the doctors’ remarks have helped reignite the debate about cell phones and cancer.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, three large epidemiology studies since 2000 have shown no harmful effects. However, that the average period of phone use in those studies was about three years, which provides no information about the long-term exposures that could lead to cancer.

“What we’re seeing is suggestions in epidemiological studies that have looked at people using phones for 10 or more years,” says Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News, an industry publication that tracks the research.

Sources:

New York Times June 3, 2008

[Thanks, Mercola.com]

As we wind down the worst presidency in the history of this once great country it behooves us to reflect upon the man and the myth that is George W. Bush.

And so, I present to you, a daily ‘Bushism’ or two…..

"The administration I’ll bring is a group of men and women who are focused on what’s best for America, honest men and women, decent men and women, women who will see service to our country as a great privilege and who will not stain the house."
-G.W. Bush

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."
-G.W. Bush

"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?"
-G.W. Bush