arbiters of classism

The essence of winter is to survive it, which is so very good for the people who live in those large houses with fuel bills of multiple hundreds of dollars that are, for them, easily affordable.

But I, even if I were as warm as I would ever want to be, withdraw my essence deeper, bring everything inside that might be damaged by the cold out there, and wait, crowded in, for the season to change.

Meanwhile, I watch the local news as the vapid, overly socialized reporters tell me that I can save money by turning my thermostat down to sixty-five during the day and sixty or even fifty-five at night.

That does it. I snap. Who the fuck made the local news the arbiter of classism in America? If the poor (or the overly frugal) choose to live in a less than comfortable manner to save money, that's one thing.

But for the local news station to take it upon itself to suggest that we "cope" with bad economic times by turning down our thermostats... Why would they not, instead, ask us to write to our representatives?

"Dear So-and-so, Please inform me as to why, when we can least afford it, our utility bills keep going higher and higher while corporate CEO's get million dollar bonuses for declining profits."

That's the kind of thing that local (and national) news would suggest if they were really looking out for the working class. Instead, they gloss over real problems and deal with mere symptoms.

Because it's the role of TV in postmodern America (and around the world), not to agitate, but to appease; make people feel better about their declining health and wealth while the elite rake in the cash.

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whizzinator conspiracy

Makers Of Whizzinator Guilty Of Conspiracy
Monday, November 24, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- Two men whose company sold a male prosthetic known as the Whizzinator that helped men cheat on drug tests have pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court in Pittsburgh.

George Wills and Robert Catalano each pleaded guilty Monday to two conspiracy counts. The two men owned the California-based Internet company Puck Technology, which made and sold products including the Whizzinator.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan's office said the goal of the Whizzinator and a device called Number 1 was to help both men and women pass drug tests. The devices were sold from October 2005 through May 2008.

The men, both of whom are from California, are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20. They face up to eight years in prison, a fine of $500,000, or both.

This is the same fed bitch that prosecuted Tommy Chong for selling bongs. This is why conspiracy charges are so not right:

When a person is arrested, as likely as not, the arrest involves, not legitimate suspicion of guilt, but either prejudice or personal or political ambition. This is unacceptable; and it's the reason why citizens by and large do not trust the law enforcement community any more than they trust the government, which has proven by its long-term behavior over time that its spokespeople are going to always favor lying over telling the truth.

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laissez faire

Business interests (media business stooges) are complaining that, if Obama is elected, he will get rid of our free-market economy. But we haven't had a free-market economy in this country for a hundred years. If business wants a free market environment, it has only to look to itself to get it. What does business in America think it's going to end up with when it continually lobbies government as special interests for special favors and wheedles the government to bail it out every time it gets into a little bit of economic trouble as a result of its greedy, manipulative policies and practices? If business wants to operate in a free market economy, if it wants government to leave it alone, then it should leave the government alone. What goes around, comes around.

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break the banks

You know things are bad when banks won't borrow from or lend to each other because they don't trust each other. They know how dishonest and untrustworthy they each are and they're not about to risk what's left of their assets by relying on crooks like themselves.

Break up the big banks.
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the new awareness

Anyone who has money, especially if they are wont to use it to further disenfranchise those who do not, should keep quiet about it and work well behind the scenes when making their influence count; because we're onto the prejudicial influence that money can buy and we're going to do something about it when you flaunt your wealth and elitism in our faces. (And this goes double for corporate entities that intend to use their money to buy or influence power to act against the good of the common people.)

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fair use

Copyright owners, such as NBC Universal, Warner Bros., and Viacom, were put on notice Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled that they must not order video be removed from Web sites indiscriminately. Before taking action against a clip, copyright owners, must form a "good-faith belief " that a video is infringing, according to Corynne McSherry, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

EFF represents the Pennsylvania woman who sued Universal Music Group for demanding that YouTube remove her clip, which featured her infant son dancing to 30 seconds of the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy." EFF has always argued that the video was a "textbook" example of fair use and Universal Music should have recognized that.
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"The DMCA absolutely anticipated this very scenario," Litvack said. "Universal said she infringed on her copyright and sent a take-down notice. She then has an opportunity to appeal to YouTube (counter-notification remedy), which is what she sought and the video was restored."

But McSherry of EFF argues that the counter-notification remedy doesn't protect people from unfounded claims and puts the onus on them to prove their innocence. She remembers that before the DMCA, a media company that wanted someone to remove allegedly infringing material would first have to convince a judge and then obtain a temporary restraining order.

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Fogel agreed and the wrote: "The unnecessary removal of non-infringing material causes significant injury to the public where time-sensitive or controversial subjects are involved and the counter-notification remedy does not sufficiently address these harms."

CNET

What I am about to say may not be true, I may be reading my own bias into this, but what gives Universal or any corporation the right to "order" anyone but its own employees to do anything? I'm going to assume that that's just an unfortunate choice of a word by the reporter who wrote this story, because otherwise I might blow a gasket here.

Nevertheless, it seems to me that the DMCA has gone too far by enabling companies to intimidate websites into removing material poste haste with no concern for the rights of people who post to the sites. It's another instance of how we're all so afraid since 9-11 to act to our own better judgment and must always defer to the "authority" of someone who purports to be...

Oh, never mind. It all just pisses me off. That's all.

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slap on the wrist

FAA proposes $7.1 million fine against American
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:24 pm PDT
Reuters - American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp (AMR.N), knowingly flew planes that needed safety repairs, the U.S. government charged on Thursday in a letter that proposed a $7.1 million fine against the carrier.

Uh-huh. See? I told you they were doing it. And, once again, instead of arresting the people responsible and sending them to jail, they opt to fine them. It's all a big shell game: If you get caught, it's going to cost you a little bit of money. What's $7 million to a multi-billion dollar company? And what kind of incentive is that to discourage corporate officers from breaking the rules again? They take a little bit of money away from them--and give it back in corporate welfare if the company gets itself into financial trouble. What a scam. Meanwhile, passengers risk their lives by flying.

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