Alex MacDonald

Fight SOPA

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:56:28 -0500

You can sign up at www.congress.org to easily contact your members of congress and join the fight. Without our input these special interests will have their failing business model protected at the expense of the tax payers.

Today I wrote my Senators. The fight isn't over.

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:28:18 -0500

Senator.

I am writing to express my opposition to SOPA and its sister bill PIPA. As
a conservative voter, I am opposed to government regulation of this sort.
The kind of regulation that is over-reaching, will be ineffective, will
place an undue burden and added cost onto the American citizen. As you
well know, regulatory compliance costs will always be passed onto the
American consumer for this kind of effort and will afford NO benefit to
any of us as it fails to address the true problems facing Big Media.

I understand that you receive a lot of money from Big Media but this is no
excuse to compromise your principals and suddenly support regulation. I
will most certainly be looking for another candidate to challenge you
during your next election cycle, one that cannot be bought by Hollywood,
one that believes in smaller government and less regulation and one that
understands that the fight against piracy is that of the Big Media
companies and not that of the American taxpayer. Whether that candidate is
you depends on the decisions you make in the coming weeks. You either take
your Hollywood money and support massive global regulation or you use
common sense and find another solution.

You fight casual piracy with VALUE and availability. Make products
available and at a reasonable cost and you will sell the product. Apple
proved this with iTunes in the USA. Unfortunately, Big Media still hasn’t
got the message! Television shows are unavailable through iTunes in some
countries. In Canada, for example, a consumer doesn’t have access to
purchase the American television shows that they want to watch because Big
Media refuse to license their “valuable” content there. They have
themselves to blame for casual piracy and should take a long look within
to truly understand why this closed model is failing. People will always
find the content they choose to consume, it’s up to Big Media to get into
the game and make it easily accessible at a good value so that consumers
have an option other than BitTorrent. This is the only thing that will
combat casual piracy.

Mass piracy is a different matter. We have existing laws to deal with
this. They should be enforced but the financial burden should fall onto
the Big Media companies and not the American tax payer, we shouldn’t have
to finance their failing business model.

I expect you to withdraw your support of SOPA and work to find a common
sense solution to the problem rather than a draconian effort to lock down
the internet and punish innocent American. A solution that puts the onus
and financial responsibility onto the Big Media companies that you are
trying to protect. A solution that protects the American Citizen from the
burden of regulation and the judicial brutality of these irresponsible,
out of touch companies.

Sincerely,

If SOPA were law I would be prosecuted for posting this.

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:04:45 -0500

The entertainment industry has fought against that kind of user convenience every step of the way.

In the 1970s and 1980s, it was all about trying to ban cassette tapes and VHS so that consumers couldn’t record songs off the radio or movies off of broadcast TV. In the late 1990s, when DVDs and MP3 players first hit the market, the industry made sure to wrap DVDs in layers of copy protection and tried to ban digital music players (ask Apple how that one worked out).

Remember the nearly decade-long, drawn-out battle between the RIAA and the rest of Earth? It sued Napster out of existence, pursued further suits against teenagers and old ladies, and tried its damnedest to thwart Apple’s efforts at digital music distribution. As recently as a few years ago, songs sold on the iTunes Store were still encumbered with DRM restrictions — at the insistence of the major labels and against Apple’s wishes — but those restrictions have since disappeared, and the iTunes Store is now the number one seller of music in several parts of the world.

The film, television, and music industries have fought tooth and nail against technologies and distribution methods that emphasize user convenience over distributor control for the past 50 years, and they’ve funneled millions of dollars into Congress in order to get laws like the DMCA, SOPA, and PROTECT-IP passed. The end result of the DMCA itself has been a confusing, Balkanized landscape as far as online media distribution goes, and it hasn’t affected piracy in the slightest.

For all their intentions, neither SOPA or PROTECT-IP are likely to measurably impact piracy either; instead, they will make it easier for the entertainment industry to abuse its already outlandish influence over the US government, and it will make it easier for the US government to undermine the very foundation of the Internet.

http://i.tuaw.com/2012/01/18/tuaw-on-sopa-and-pipa-what-they-are-and-why-were-against-them/

Show me something I’ve never seen and I promise I’ll be right there waiting #nowplaying

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:19:14 -0500

Show me something I’ve never seen and I promise I’ll be right there waiting #nowplaying

$20 per Month SMS, not for me.

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:41:24 -0500

I switched to AT&T recently, their only option for SMS was a $240 per year unlimited plan. Think about that. People are paying $240 per year, $480 over a two year contract just to send SMS messages! Fuck that!

I can send and receive SMS using my google voice number for free. I have every IM client known to man, I have KIK, Facebook Messenger and on and on. There are a ton of ways to reach me, including a phone call itself. Why am I going to pay AT&T $480 when I can do it for free? People are stupid I guess.

Soviet Law in the United Kingdom.

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:23:48 -0400

It appears that the United Kingdom as adopted a rather draconian system of government that will not tolerate free speech. A Scottish man was just jailed for 8 months for “words”, no more, no less, just words. I have to say, this terrifies me.

The fact is the writers of the Bible, the Holy Koran, any religious tome would today be jailed in the UK for their personal views. So what is next? Today its religious speech, Tomorrow it could be political speech. Imagine a conversation in the Pub, politics, religion, terrorism, anything really, someone takes offence and suddenly the Police come in and haul you off for “hate speech”. Did anyone get hurt? Or was it merely a few feelings that got scratched? Where does it end?

Too many countries are currently persecuting their citizens for not conforming, to the point of murder in some African nations. I guess we can add the UK to that list of nations that won’t tolerate freedom.

Next time you have an opinion and say “It’s a Free Country” you might want to think twice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15333744

FaceBook privacy is a joke.

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:35:30 -0400

I just deactivated my FaceBook account because of the privacy/visibility changes that appeared with the latest layout change. Gone is my ability to choose who sees my status updates, photos or anything else for that matter. I’m even seeing photos for people that I’m not friends with, for that matter have never heard of! I know privacy on FaceBook was questionable to begin with but now its non-existent.

Troy Davis, the facts.

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:04:32 -0400

First of all, let’s set out that the case has been going on for twenty years.

Second, let’s point out that two witnesses at Davis’s trial testified under oath that Troy Davis admitted to the shooting.

Yes, those witnesses have now, twenty years and much badgering by anti-death penalty advocates later, recanted. A federal judge spent two days reviewing the evidence and the testimony last year and issued a 172 page order explaining why the witnesses recanting was “smoke and mirrors.”

one of the chief nuggets of the case is that there was no physical evidence. Except that is crap. There is the matter of Troy Davis’s bloody clothes that you’ve probably never heard of.

There was a .38 caliber gun. Both Troy Davis and the man Davis’s team claims in the real murderer, Sylvester Coles, had a .38 caliber gun.

Davis’s gun had been used in another shooting and the gun casing were linked between both shootings. Everyone likes to gloss over that. They point out that the man who claimed Davis fired on him has now recanted — yet again 20 years later.

But here are some additional facts — if we’re going to deal with things that weren’t in contention twenty years ago.

The federal courts and state courts in Georgia have all denied Davis’s appeal. Prior to 2008, Georgia’s Supreme Court was decidedly liberal and even they passed.

For the first time in 50 years the United States Supreme Court ordered a federal court to conduct an entire rehearing of all the evidence. The court did and found all the new stuff was, again, “smoke and mirrors,” including the retracted confessions. And while building the case to claim that Sylvester Coles was the real murderer, the defense would not call Coles in for examination.

But then there is Officer MacPhail himself and what the defense all too conveniently forgets to bring up. Officer MacPhail “testified” at Troy Davis’s murder trial. See, MacPhail, an Army Ranger and police officer was working a second job that night as a security guard. He chased Davis and Sylvester Coles, who were assaulting a homeless man over a beer.

MacPhail reported in that he had run passed Sylvester Coles. MacPhail was shot from the front in the chest and face — not from behind where Coles was, but from the front where MacPhail himself located Troy Davis.

And then, if we really want to get into the weeds and talk about facts, consider this fact. Troy Davis immediately became the suspect and fled. Police roped off his house, obtained entry, and searched the home. In the laundry they found Troy Davis’s shorts from that night with evidence on the clothing directly tying him to Officer MacPhail’s murder — Officer MacPhail’s blood.

According to Darrell Collins, who is now recanting everything or claiming not to remember anything, Davis admitted to Collins that Davis had shot MacPhail in the chest and then went back to shoot MacPhail in the head at close range because MacPhail had seen his face — hence MacPhail’s blood on Davis’s shorts. Oh, and at the time Collins gave his statement way back in 1989 it was not public knowledge that Officer MacPhail had been shot in the chest and then at close range in the face.

(remember as well that there were 34 witnesses, not the 9 as claimed. The defense claims seven witnesses changed their testimony. That’s actually not true. Only two materially changed their testimony and Davis’s attorneys refused to present those two in federal court in 2010 to be examined in the evidentiary hearing even though they sat outside the courtroom door. Among the eyewitnesses were three airmen in the Air Force in a bus who had prime viewing for the murder and all identified Troy Davis as the wearer of the white Batman t-shirt, which is what the murderer wore)

Of course, this justice system that is supposedly about to carry out a travesty of justice ordered Davis’s shorts excluded as evidence from the trial because the police did not get a search warrant. So anti-death penalty advocates can conveniently say there is no physical evidence by discounting the gun, the casings, and ignoring Officer MacPhail’s blood on Troy Davis’s clothes found in Troy Davis’s laundry all because the very same court system that found him guilty without that physical evidence followed the law and excluded it.

Troy Davis is a cop killer and I’m perfectly fine with his execution

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/there-is-no-travesty-of-justice-in-georgia-execute-troy-davis/question-2173557/

Lower Taxes work. Learn your history.

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:32:51 -0400

Prior to the Bush cuts the top 1% or earners paid 25% of all taxes. After the cuts they paid 39% of all taxes.

Prior to the Bush tax cuts the top 5% paid 44% of all taxes, after the cuts they paid 60%.

2004 (after the tax cuts) was the highest economic growth in 20 years because of the cuts.

The economy added 5 million jobs in the first 2 years after the tax cuts.

@BarackObama All of these numbers come from your IRS & are published on their website. If you’re serious about jobs, cut taxes. The worlds highest corp taxes don’t work. Oppressive taxes on wealth don’t work. Learn your history.

US Budget Fiasco.

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:05:57 -0400

US Budget Fiasco.

CERN - Sun causes Climate Change, Not Man.

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:26:46 -0400

Global Warmists everywhere quiver in fear of losing their welfare payments after new CERN discovery.

The Sun, not Man, Causes Climate Change Shocker – Telegraph Blogs http://tgr.ph/n0odJX

The problem for the leftists is that you can’t have massive global wealth redistribution without the myth of global warming, so the global warmists & the director of CERN (a political appointee) will do their best to cover up the science.

- UN IPCC Official Admits ‘We Redistribute World’s Wealth By Climate Policy’ | NewsBusters.org http://bit.ly/r855BL

- NASA’s Hansen to Obama: Use Global Warming to Redistribute Wealth | NewsBusters.org http://bit.ly/oJMif9

Dilemma.

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:17:08 -0400

Continue with tumblr or switch to my resurrected blogger?

It’s not right, not OK To say the words that you say Maybe we’re better off this way I’m not fine,...

Tue, 17 May 2011 20:16:46 -0400

It’s not right, not OK
To say the words that you say
Maybe we’re better off this way
I’m not fine, I’m in pain
It’s harder everyday
Maybe we’re better off this way
It’s better that we break…

ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2011 EUROPE: BY JOHN CLEESE

Tue, 17 May 2011 09:13:01 -0400

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror
alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are
“Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire
that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the
country’s military capability.

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya and
have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon,
though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A
Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940
when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from
“Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a
“Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish
Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s cuts out their hearts, lads.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to
“Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat
Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to
“Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher
levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat
they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.
These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy
can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to
“She’ll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I
think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is
canceled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final
escalation level.

— John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person

Sound Advice.

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:54:14 -0400

Sound Advice.

Nice.

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:09:51 -0400

Nice.

A translation for Chelsea.

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:17:01 -0400

“Where be that blackbird to? I know where ‘e be!”

Where could that blackbird possibly be, oh I just spotted him.

” ‘e be up yon wurzel tree, And I be a’ter ‘e!”

He was located in that wurzel tree over there and I’m off to catch him

“And ‘e sees I, And I sees ‘e, buggered if I don’t get im”

He spots me but I’ve already located him & he knows that I intend to catch him.

“With a girt big stick, I’ll knock im down, Blackbird! I’ll ‘ave ‘e !”

With this large wooden stick I shall give him a good whack to the floor, I will most certainly catch you, blackbird.

Go get your dose

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:40:54 -0400

Go get your dose

I love Ann Coulter.

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:12:10 -0500

SIX-FIGURE BUS DRIVERS AND OTHER WORKING-CLASS HEROES
by Ann Coulter
March 9, 2011

Can we stop acting as if people who work for the government are the heroes of working people?

Fine, we understand that Wisconsin public sector employees like the system that pays them an average of $76,500 per year, with splendiferous benefits, and are fighting like wildcats against any proposed reforms to that system. But it’s madness to keep treating people who are promoting their own self-interest as if they are James Meredith walking into the University of Mississippi.

This isn’t how we usually view people fighting for their own economic interests.

When Wall Street opposes financial reforms or a tobacco company opposes new cigarette taxes, no one hails them as “working men and women” who “deserve a decent pay and decent retirement.” We’re not told Wall Street has a “fundamental right” not to be regulated, or tobacco companies promoting their own interests are just trying to “help working people and middle-class people retain a good job in America.” People on the other side of the issue aren’t said to be “just trying to kick the other guy in the shin and exterminate him.”

And yet all that was said by the Democratic governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, on MSNBC’s “Hardball” last week, about government workers fighting to preserve their own Alex Rodriguez-like employment contracts.

Yes, we understand that public sector employees got themselves terrific overtime, holiday, pension and health care deals through buying politicians with their votes and campaign money. But now, responsible elected officials in Wisconsin are trying to balance the budget.

MSNBC is covering the fight in Wisconsin as if it’s the 9/11 attack — and the Republicans are al-Qaida. Its entire prime-time schedule is dedicated to portraying self- interested government employees as if they’re Marines taking on the Taliban. The network’s Ed Schultz bellows that it is “morally wrong” to oppose the demands of government employees.

Yes, and I guess pornographers are noble when they launch a full-scale offensive against obscenity laws.

Public sector workers are pursuing their own narrow financial interests to the detriment of everyone else in their states. That’s fine, but can we stop pretending it’s virtuous?

Because of the insane union contracts in Wisconsin, one Madison bus driver, John E. Nelson, was able to make $159,000 in 2009 — about $100,000 of which in overtime pay. Jackie Gleason didn’t make that much playing bus driver Ralph Kramden on “The Honeymooners.” Seven bus drivers took home more than $100,000 that year.

When asked about the outrageous overtime pay for bus drivers — totaling $1.94 million in 2009 alone — Transit and Parking Commission Chairman Gary Poulson said: “That’s the contract.”

It’s ludicrous to suggest that these union contracts were fairly bargained. Only one side was at the negotiating table. Ordinary people with jobs were not at the meetings where public sector compensation was discussed.

Union hacks play on our heartstrings, weeping about the valuable work government employees do: These are the people who educate our children, run into burning buildings and take dangerous criminals off our streets!

Politicians who do not immediately acquiesce to insane union demands are invariably accused of hating teachers, nurses or cops. In California, this has been standard operating procedure for decades. The voters never seem to catch on.

In 1972, E. Richard Barnes lost his re-election campaign to the California state Assembly after being accused by cops and firefighters of coddling criminals.

In fact, Barnes, a conservative Republican, had one of the toughest records on crime. But he had voted against fringe benefits and better pension benefits for public employees.

Years later, in 2005, Don Perata, Democratic state senator from Oakland, suggested that the legislature reconsider the requirement that 40 percent of the entire state budget be spent on public schools. The teachers’ unions instantly plastered his district with fliers calling him anti-education. Perata is a far-left Democrat, who had himself been a teacher for 15 years before entering politics.

Fine, we like teachers, firemen and police officers. We appreciate them. (And for the record, it is statistically more dangerous to be a farmer, fisherman, steelworker or pilot than a cop or fireman. Soldiers also have pretty dangerous jobs, and they don’t get to strike.)

Does that mean we should pay them $1 million dollars a year? How about $10 million? After all, these are the people who educate our kids, run into burning buildings and take dangerous criminals off our streets!

Assuming the answer is no, then apparently we’re allowed to discuss government workers’ compensation — even though they do important work. As George Bernard Shaw concluded his famous quip (often attributed to Winston Churchill), “Now, we’re just negotiating over the price.”

Why do public sector employees have absurd overtime rules? Why don’t they pay for their own health insurance? Why do they get to retire at age 45 with a guaranteed pension of 65 percent of their last year’s pay — as state police in New Jersey do?

This is asymmetrical warfare. Seven percent of the population cares intensely about public sector union contracts — and nothing else. The remaining 93 percent of voters can’t be bothered to care.

Meanwhile, state after state spirals into bankruptcy.

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money"

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:12:11 -0500

“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money”

- Margaret Thatcher