SOPA/PIPA defeated!

SOPA/PIPA has been defeated! But we must not rest on our laurels. The greedy, amoral media companies will not stop until the law itself stops them for good. Sadly there is no short supply of corrupt politicians in Congress who put their own selfish interests ahead of the rights of We the People!

If SOPA/PIPA has passed it would have meant the end of the open and free Internet a we know it. The media companies and any copyright holder would not have even needed any proof to shut down a site, to have a person charged and facing 5 years in prison. All they would have to do is file a complaint and claim a rights infringement and your website/blog could be shut down.

The dirty little secret is that the media companies themselves are behind many file sharing networks. Further these companies like Sony, Viacom, Time-Warner engage in illegal activity. They use malware, aggressive port scanning, denial of service attacks, viruses and packet inspection to gain access to users computers and see what files they have.

By treating consumers as hardened criminals these media companies have alienated several generations against them. Not the best business model. The RIAA, MPAA will be stopped, they will finally be forced, by the law and by the market dynamics, that they cannot conduct business like this and will find a profitable and fair business model for digital consumption.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson

Here's a good article by Dr.  Michael Ham on how SOPA/PIPA could have been used to arbitrarily take down websites, stifle business competition and silence scientific debate.

Ipod Touch

Using the Blogger app!

formspring.me

Ask me questions about Movies http://www.formspring.me/netrek

Cancer center bans Christian symbols!

These types of stories really make my blood boil. The Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center has banned all religious symbols on its premises for this Christmas season. They did it so as not to "offend anyone"! Spokeswoman for the Hollings Cancer Center, Vicky Agnew said that decorations will be, "more secular and respectful to all beliefs." Agnew said, "We don't want to offend a volunteer with good intentions, but we need to think of the bigger picture. People who are Muslim or Jewish or have no religious beliefs come here for treatment."  This action is, "not meant to be cold," she said.

This is, sadly, yet another instance of arrogance, fundamental misunderstanding of our Constitution and an outright cowardice! Keep in mind this cancer center is where sick people are recuperating from serious illnesses and it has been proven in peer reviewed research that prayer and ones Christian faith does have a positive impact on patient recovery! If anyplace this is where such vital symbols of faith, encouragement and hope are needed. Our Constitution does not establish an absolute divorce of religious content from the public arena. The so-called separation of church and state clause was instituted to protect people of faith from the abuses of government - something which many of our forefathers had experienced in Europe.

The rights of the many are abrogated and sacrificed on the expedient altar of political correctness! So the fear of a hardhearted atheist or member of some other faith was so compelling that they were forced to take such a Draconian action? I think not. There has been a concerted effort by liberals, spearheaded by groups like the ACLU, for decades to systematically remove all evidence of our Judeo-Christian heritage from *any* public space. This attack has been concentrated mainly on court houses, public primary schools, hospitals, universities, state parks, and businesses. They've even gone after private property owners having a large cross on display. We must fight back against this tyranny. For too long people of faith and freedom lovers have sat back and allowed this evil to foster. Now is the time for action! Please take time to contact the Hollings Cancer Center and let them know that you are angered by their decision and want them to reverse it. Remember: Jesus is the Reason for the Christmas season!

Here is some helpful contact information I collected. Make your voice heard today!

Vicky Agnew, Public Relations
Hollings Cancer Center
E-mail: agnew@musc.edu
Phone: 843-792-0376

Andrew S. Kraft, M.D., Director
Hollings Cancer Center
E-mail: kraft@musc.edu
Phone: 843-792-8284

Hollings Cancer Center
Main Phone: 843-792-0700

Medical University of South Carolina
Main Phone: 843-792-2300

Medical University of South Carolina
Attn: Raymond S. Greenberg, President
Colcock Hall
179 Ashley Ave.
MSC 001
Charleston, SC 29425

Medical University of South Carolina
Hollings Cancer Center
Attn: Andrew S. Kraft, M.D., Director
86 Jonathan Lucas Street
P.O. Box 250955
Charleston, SC 29425

a poem

"Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali

"evening repose"

you labored all day
now it's time to play

sit back and relax
don't hack

after eating a fine meal
happy you shall feel

turn your ear
to Bach's Well Tempered Clavier

now read a good book
on Facebook do not look

no email for tonight
go and dim the light

now drift off and snooze
without aid of booze

have happy dreams
reality isn't what it seems!

  -- Zachary Uram (c) 2011

Decline of the West; Europe is lost

 

In Japan you still have a fairly intact family unit, schools are much stricter than in the West, children are taught to follow the law and be good citizens. Hedonistic parents in the West raise their spoiled brats to be narcissistic self-absorbed twats who just look to satiate their base carnal desires; if anyone gets in their way they just step over them. The feminist movement and so-called sexual revolution has destroyed the family unit. In the black community 90% of kids are born bastards and grow up with no father present. Things aren't much better in the white or hispanic communities. I regularly read in the British broadsheets of the rise of hooliganism and thuggery, school kids slashing each other with knives, and the law is lax and lets them off the hook. Sexual morality is at an abysmal level in the West too. Half the population is either stoned on drugs or in a drunken stupor. Also a fundamental, a very non-PC, factor is people turning away from God. For those bashing America: yes we have our faults, as does any country, but at least we still have a majority Christian nation and haven't bowed down to the tyranny of the Islamists and welcomed the Trojan Horse into our own shores as misguided liberal Britain and much of Europe has done. It's too late for you now, but we still have a chance. The European Union has failed and many member nations now have stagnant economies deep in debt, with high unemployment, crushing social obligations (especially as tens of millions of illiterate immigrants, mainly Muslims, received social benefits), failing central banks, currency decline, inflation and over-taxation. Enjoy the Sharia law which will be coming in the next decades!

Utter idiocy in the UAE and Saudi Arabia

The blasphemer of Islam!

According to a recent story in the Emirates 24|7 news blog, a 'social activist' in the United Arab Emirates, Mariam Al Ahmadi, was outraged to discover a Chinese made toy at some local shops which, she claims, makes a noise that somehow mocks Islam. Specifically, it somehow gives offense to Mohammed's child bride wife Aisha. One would think she'd be outraged that Mohammed married Aisha at age 6 and consummated the marriage at age 9, but that doesn't seem to rattle her fragile sensibilities. Ms. Al Ahmadi he is now leading an effort to get all of the offending toys removed. Seriously UAE this is your source of moral indignation? This story reminds of primitive animistic beliefs, where ignorant tribes believe that lightning is an angry god shouting at them or something.

Not surprisingly Saudi Arabia got wind of this and confiscated a bunch of them. Well done! Note that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are Islamist countries where there is no freedom of religion, no freedoms of speech or press, and women do not have the full rights they enjoy in the West. This activist didn't raise so much as an eyebrow over the Christians in UAE who are raped, falsely imprisoned, beaten, tortured and even murdered (all in the name of Islam) for their beliefs. Yet a toy gun making a sound akin to RATATAT stirs up feelings of outrage. This is ridiculous, but sadly not very surprising. In case the offending story is deleted, which seems to happen quite often in such cases, here is an archived copy.

It's natural instinct for those of us not brainwashed to laugh at such an absurd assertion, but there is a very serious, and disturbing, cultural dynamic at work here. We see the archetypal Righteous Defender of Islam at work. Even the most innocuous and innocent things may set them off into a rampage. It's happened numerous times and we must fight it at every turn. Hopefully Islam will finally go through a much needed reformation and purge itself of the Jihadist and Islamist factions, but the calls for moderation and sober introspection from within Islam seem far too few and weak. I would love to hear from Muslims and hear what they think about this story.

And on an economic digression: the Chinese have mastered Western capitalism (including its amoral defects and excesses) and know their customers. Can you imagine some poor factory engineer in Shenzhen, plodding through his 6 day, 100 hour work week, recording an anti-Islam message in Arabic onto the memory chip of the control board of a plastic toy gun! It would be harder to come up with a more implausible scenario.

Islam actually enjoys greater protection in China than Christianity. The Quran is sold in a wide variety of bookstores and mosques are not regulated. Whereas Bibles are only sold in a limited number of state run religious bookstores and the only recognized Christian churches are ones which belong to the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). Of course the pastors of the TSPM churches are all trained by the Chinese Communist Party! Oppression of Christians in the Muslim world and China is a very serious issue, but the Church is growing mightily. Praise the Lord!