I wrote to my Senator (Orrin Hatch-R., Utah, responsible for the Protect IP Act) about SOPA and its problems and gave them a rather "cool" scathing review about its faults and errors and the public demonstrations that have taken place like GoDaddy and the fact that three major companies had pulled out from the SOPA bill (although their political alliance group is still signed into SOPA--so they can still look good in the public eye and still, really, support the bill) and got the "printing press" release as follows (which has nothing to do with what I wrote, really--I know this bill is coming, but really, an auto-send out letter for pissed constituents?):

Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to S. 968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act.

On May 12, 2011, Senator Patrick Leahy and I introduced the PROTECT IP Act. If enacted, S. 968 would provide law enforcement with important tools to stop foreign websites “dedicated to infringing activities.” In other words, the bill targets the most egregious offenders of online theft who profit from counterfeit products and pirated content. These goods can range from new movie and music releases to pharmaceuticals and consumer products. With this legislation, we send a strong message to those selling or distributing pirated content or counterfeit goods online that the United States will strongly protect intellectual property rights.

The bill authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file a civil action against the registrant or owner of a domain name that accesses a foreign infringing Internet site, or the foreign-registered domain name itself. However, DOJ officials must first seek approval from a federal court before taking any action. In determining whether an Internet site is “dedicated to infringing activities,” a federal judge must weigh all of the facts carefully in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure – just like what happens today in shutting down an illegal bricks and mortar storefront.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a common assumption with some online users that illegal downloads and purchases online are free and harmless. This is far from true. Fake pharmaceuticals threaten people’s lives. Stolen movies, music, and other products threaten the jobs and livelihoods of many people, and drive up costs for other consumers. Every year, these online thieves are making hundreds of millions of dollars by stealing American intellectual property, and this undermines legitimate commerce.

This also has a direct impact on Utah. As you may know, Utah is considered a very popular state for film and television production activity. Nothing compares to the red rock of Southern Utah or the sweeping grandeur of the Wasatch Mountains. Utah’s workforce is also a draw to filmmakers who come for one of the most highly educated and hardworking workforces in our country. It is estimated that the motion picture and television industries are responsible for thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars in wages in Utah. There is no doubt that intellectual property theft has a direct, negative impact on Utah’s economy and its workforce. This same impact can be seen nationwide.

On July 22, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported S. 968 by unanimous consent. While it is unclear when the bill will be considered by the full Senate, the legislation enjoys strong support with 39 bipartisan cosponsors to date. Please know that my Senate colleagues and I are committed to crafting consensus legislation and welcome suggestions on ways to improve the bill. Unfortunately there has been some misinformation circulated about what the PROTECT IP Act aims to accomplish. In an effort to be of assistance, I have enclosed “Fact vs. Fiction” information about the legislation. I hope this information will be helpful to you.

Again, thank you for writing. I welcome your continued input on issues of concern.



Complete BULLSHIT. I hate my politicians, they're fucking half-wits!

holy shit that thumbnail pic is intimidating but nothing compared to listening to this guy

People do some really weird shit with this game. This is nothing compared to some of what you'll find at tesnexus.com.

circular logic at it's best.
one mans brilliant attempt to rationalize his own sense of persecution.
highlighting hitler and the third reich and the horrors of world war 2 while ignoring the fact that the tactic used had been used for thousands of years....by the church.
how do you get people,whole communities...nations...to go out and murder/slaughter other people?
by demonizing them.
and nothing compares to the power of demonizing another culture than religion,but for the past century this has been due to nationalism.love of country and not so much love of god,but this has been a fairly new enterprise when put in historical context.in the past it was the church whipping its religious flock into a murderous froth.
in regards to germany,demonizing the jewish people is more understandable when we look at what happened to germany after world war 1.what happened to their economy and political and social structure..they were RIPE with fear and uncertainty..which hitler exploited to his radical benefit.

key word:fear

religion uses this emotion like a bully in the pulpit.yet this emotion is antithetical to what jesus taught,but fear will always be the best tool to control and manipulate the masses.the church dons the mantle of false authority and instills fear in order to subjugate and enslave.
saint patrick is given credit for clearing ireland of "serpents".yet when you realize that "serpents" represents "pagans" i.e:actual human beings and that tens of thousands were murdered and slaughtered for not leaving when given the chance,one can only come up with a more apt word:attempted genocide.
think on that the next time your enjoying a pint of green beer.

i always wonder how a true follower of christ reconciles putting on a uniform,picking up a gun and shooting another human being.america's current military has become more and more christian based.with evangelicals joining in such groups as "warriors for christ".while i am fully aware of passages in the bible that not only condone acts of war,but demand it,i do not recall jesus ever once stating that killing your fellow man is a godly and righteous thing to do.

this is hypocrisy incarnate and,in my opinion,one of the very powerful points atheists point to and with good reason.religious historical slaughtering aside,this is happening NOW.
radicalized fundamentalist islamic people being manipulated into jihad by those who pretend to have the authority of god.
fundamentalist christians taking up a "crusade" against the warriors of allah.
as if 1500 years of murder,rape and slaughter were not enough to teach both of these easily manipulated people in to the continued killing of each other.
these people are being deceived by those who wish to dominate using the very scripture these poor souls have deemed holy writ.

another good example is how a small and fringe political ideological group called the "neo-conservatives"(formerly known as neo-liberal) hi-jacked the evangelical religious folk in the late 70's and it was the LEADERS of that evangelical movement that sacrificed their own parishoners to the wolves.
jerry falwell,baker,swaggert,roberts.
all of them used their authority and charisma to convince their followers the righteousness of this radical political ideology.
war,empire,domination,dismissal of the poor and weak.
all put into biblical terms which the faithful bought.hook..line and sinker.

i could go on but suffice to say atheists have a few really strong points when it comes to the hypocrisy of religion and it always amazes me how many religious folk are totally unaware of their own hypocrisy and circular logic.accusing others of this or that while being totally unaware they are doing the exact same thing...very much like this man in the video.
cherry picking certain sound-bytes while ignoring historical context does not an argument make...
quite the opposite.

i am going to upvote this just so we can see this train wreck of logic exposed for what it is:a rationalization.

I'll bet that student aide put up a heck of a fight. Getting your underwear ripped is nothing compared to this torture!

>> ^possom:

Enough to flush her embezzled student aide down the toilet?

It is so tiring to be painted with beliefs I don't hold just because I don't agree 100% with someone else's stance.

I am very confused by this whole story. First I was outraged as is everyone else, but then the broadcast ends by saying that he wasn't handcuffed and the door wasn't broken down? Somebody is lying, and they are OUTRAGEOUS lies. This happened at 6 am, and he sat in a car in front of his house for six hours! There must be neighbors! Witnesses!

If the cops are lying, that just compounds my outrage. Weiner lying about a tweet is NOTHING compared to a lie of this magnitude. Thank god for the fourth estate and a free press -- heads will roll and roll they should.

If the guy is lying, well, that makes it all kind of funny. I thought while watching it that he was entertaining -- he played that camera like a pro and was clearly having a GREAT time. And to end with his little speech about paying your student loans? This guy is priceless. If he made up the whole thing, that makes him even more entertaining. And then what does it say about our free press -- if they don't do the least bit of investigative reporting to see if he is credible. Did they talk to the neighbors to see if they had seen anything, to corroborate the story before airing it? Or were they more interested in their "exclusive" story so they can capture eyes and therefore profit from advertising dollars?

I have nothing but questions.

What a roller coaster ride this vid was for me -- outrage and amusement and wha???

@chilaxe, I'm just asking for some consistency from libertarians on their use of "voluntary" and "involuntary". Is asking Walmart to pay their workers better "involuntary altruism", since if they do it, it might mean prices might go up?

Also, where's the grand concern about "involuntary" participation in the market? I don't get to take a cruise in a Ferrari whenever I want. That's not because all Ferrari's near me are always in use by people with a more pressing need, but because we have this whole system in place where people can just hem them up in a garage most of the time because they "own" it. If I try to violate that system, I'll be subjected to state-based coercive violence!

Further, if your goal is to be altruistic, then be altruistic. Not having state-provided Ferrari service is a real downer, but it's nothing compared to how someone who has cancer and can't get treatment feels. If I'm altruistic, I'll set aside my Ferrari-related woes, and still try to help people who don't have health insurance. People who fixate on their own situation, and insist that it always take precedence over that of others aren't altruistic, they're selfish.

If your goal is to just be selfish, then a good way to go about it would be to complain about how unjust it is that you might be "subsidizing" someone who isn't you when you buy a 44 cent postage stamp, and use that unhappiness as a justification for why you oppose systemic measures to provide health care to the poor.

I suppose you could make the argument that this is about "tough love", that helping people just prevents them from learning important lessons about life. But the truth is crap like this isn't altruism, in either the literal or figurative case.

Besides the 1997/1998 the being the golden era for CRPGs, I'm really nostalgic for the Quake I days. The community seemed to be way into, not everyone and their grandparents were on the net yet and the mods that came out for a while were truly awesome for their time. Sometimes I play TF2 and I like it... but it is absolutely nothing compared to the original. I also don't think I've ever played any other CTF game as good as the Threewave CTF besides maybe Tribes CTF. That grappling hook [in 3wave] made it awesome - why the hell has it been forgotten about?

The opening to A Momentary Lapse of Reason is alright, but nothing compares to Shine On You Crazy Diamond parts I-IX.

>> ^ghark:

Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but it ties in beautifully with the album, one of my favourite lead-ins from any album I've listened to.

In a way the video was nothing compared to the cool way she sat in front of many many people and showed not the slightest remorse - just a "look how fantastic I am - coming for help and now you had all better give me a quick and effective answer". She has not bonded with the child - I felt a underlying resentment that she had to take both boys (she adopted twin boys) just so that she could have the one that she had bonded with. When she is told to stop - no ands, ifs or buts - she wails something about - "am I supposed to stop it for everyone". That gave me the impression that yes she gets a good feeling from this. Even if that feeling is power over another human being - she is convinced that she is doing what she needs to do. Her husband seemed out of it and explained away her behaviour as if she were the victim - having to deal with this "awful" child. The whole thing is just disgusting.

No matter how annoying Morgan is, he's nothing compared to the show's theme...

" at its hight 40- 50 people died from extacy " - really ?

even so that's nothing compared to how many people die from drink even indirectly.

Its pretty amusing that vast majority of the pills sold are fake bet the people taking them don't even notice.

No. It's not a crime. Manning committed the crime. Then he blabbed about it and is getting what he deserves.

Not until he hangs will Manning 'get what he deserves'. But I doubt we have the balls to hang traitors anymore.

Assange's crime is taking those classified documents as well as classified diplomatic cables and making them available to a wider audience, including America's enemies. Corporate espionage and the rest is another matter and another set of crimes.

Uncovering secrets is what real journalism is all about.

The American mainstream libmedia gave up journalism long ago. Now the useful idiots just carry water for taxocrats and the left.

What's going on here is pure fucking evil perpetrated by the incestuous marriage of business and politics.

Which has been going on since the beginning of human history. And really, how much of THE TRUTH changes things? It was known well before Tim Geithner was made Secretary of the Treasury he was a m0therfcking TAX CHEAT. Did anyone care? Apparently not.

When it comes to shining a light on the truth that none of you fucks are free, the cables, the collateral murder video and all the rest is nothing compared to the reaction to them, by business and politics.

It's the people screaming "You are not free" who have even more tyrannical plans for the human race. There's nothing more common than "revolutionaries" adopting the same tactics and principles of the "oppressors" they overthrow. And so: yawn.

It used to be common sense that to maintain freedom and order, things like military operational readiness, technology and war plans and even diplomatic secrets should be hidden from the prying eyes of our enemies. I'm sure the Germans wished for American "transparency" about D-Day and the Japanese (Happy December 7th!) about our atom bomb programs.

For attacking the USA the wikiclown should be considered fair game. He claims to be an "anarchist" so I'm sure he'll enjoy his fate.

>> ^quantumushroom:

Fencing stolen information? You mean publishing whistleblower documents?
Assangle published the finook traitor's stolen classified documents. That's a crime.
You should check out dystopianfuturetoday's video about that. It's even broadcast on your favorite news station.
You mean America's favorite news station?
A foreign enemy like bin laden? If he would, he'd have been free for at least 10 more years.
The wikiclown isn't a diaperheaded billionaire with a network of jihadist vermin. But it sure looks like he could've used a spidey hole about now.


No. It's not a crime. Manning committed the crime. Then he blabbed about it and is getting what he deserves.

Uncovering secrets is what real journalism is all about.

What's going on here is pure fucking evil perpetrated by the incestuous marriage of business and politics.

When it comes to shining a light on the truth that none of you fucks are free, the cables, the collateral murder video and all the rest is nothing compared to the reaction to them, by business and politics.

I hear what you're saying but believe me, the poverty and strife in B.C. is NOTHING compared to that of India.

Don't take it from me though, I'm from the OTHER Vancouver.

>> ^osama1234:

Unfortunately, this isn't about india. Unless there are some serious checks and balances, capitalism anywhere in the world leads to this. I live in Vancouver, supposedly the best city in the world. Come visit the downtown east side. Then walk few minutes west.