Given the events transpiring in Egypt one may be tempted to think that Americans are united behind the Egyptian people’s desire for freedom and democracy — after all Americans can’t stop shouting slogans about liberty. But the truth of the matter is, that Hosni Mubarak has a sizeable and influential fan club in the United States and particularly in the Republican party.
Quitting Facebook (again) and, to a certain extent America…
In light of recent developments in the Wikileaks saga — mostly the recent decision by the United States government to subpoena all information related to twitter users who follow #wikileaks, of which I am one — I have decided to curtail my activity on American social networks. Sadly, the United States government does have sway over American companies and can effectively put a gun to their heads in order to force them to reveal information on their users regardless of said companies’ privacy policy.
Frankly, this isn’t acceptable. If one wants to protect one’s information one is left with little choice but to try and abandon US sites and companies as much as possible and opt instead for other sites and companies that are at least at arm’s length distance from the American behemoth. Not that the USG won’t overreach and encroach on foreign sovereignty to the extent to which they can get away with, but at least I won’t make things easy for them. My domain name registrars and web server ISP are already fully Canadian, and I’ll try and examine ways to put more distance between myself and the USA in the coming weeks.
Yeah, I’ve deleted my Facebook account before, and stupidly came back because someone I know seemed to have problems getting in touch with me. That turned out to be pretty dumb and pointless for a number of reasons I shan’t bore you with, and I keep almost no data on Facebook as it is, but a step’s a step.
Am I giving up Twitter? There doesn’t seem to be much of a point in doing that now. You can’t delete a Twitter account anyway, you can only deactivate it; and one has to give kudos to Twitter for getting the formerly-secret subpoenas unsealed so that they can notify the users directly concerned, that took balls on their part. Can you imagine Mark Zuckerberg doing such a thing? I can’t. The guy has no scruples or moral compass. He’d hand over your info before even reading the subpoena. Probably already has, to be frank, and that’s why Facebook is the first to go, and I won’t be back this time.
Whatever happened to Obama? I railed as much as anyone against Bush’s secret warrantless wiretapping for the Orwellian nightmare that it was, and back when he was just a candidate Obama was saying the right things, such as:
“Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal.” -Candidate Obama, 2008
But once in the White House he wasted little time in showing us that this display of principle was nothing but bullshit and marketing (but I repeat myself). All in all Obama is no different than his predecessor, but he does prove in his own disappointing-the-supporters way that there is indeed no difference between black and white. I can’t remember a time when an individual has disappointed me more than Mr. Obama. People like me thought he would be the man to bring “change you can believe in”. But as with everything said for a purpose (in this case, to win votes), ultimately one is disappointed at the sheer hypocrisy of it all.
On second thought let’s forget that trip to Stockholm…
Dilbert creator Scott Adams: “Apparently Swedish laws are unique. Â If you have a penis, you’re half a rapist before you even get through customs. And if your condom breaks, that’s jail time. What I’m saying is that the Club Med in Sweden is a nervous place.”
Also Swedish condoms apparently break all the time, so I think I’m going to vacation somewhere else!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me several times…
Here is why Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has no credibility. Why do Canadians put up with such brazen dishonesty and lack of integrity in their public officials?
Something fans of irony can appreciate
After spending the last couple of weeks twisting foreign and corporate arms (successfully) to take down Julian Assange, the United States takes a break in order to celebrate “World Press Freedom Day”. Clearly the US State Department would be unable to detect irony even if “irony” was a baseball bat that was used to repeatedly smash the limbs and skulls of whistleblowers.
Clearly this is double-plus-ungood. Really, Americans, do you think anyone’s taking you seriously on that one?
Plus ça change…
Daniel Ellsberg: “EVERY attack now made on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was made against me and the release of the Pentagon Papers at the time.” Ultimately things haven’t changed very much in American government in the past 40 years, and embarrassing the USG will lead to them leaning on their international partners (Sweden, the UK, Paypal, Visa, MC) to make your life hell. It’s a sorry spectacle, and exposes shortcomings in Obama’s so-called opposition to censorship and desire for an open and transparent society. Principles, it would seem, do not stand any sort of test, and should be abandoned the moment they become difficult to keep.
Obama also said he wouldn’t extend the Bush “top 2%” tax cuts, and he did. Frankly I can’t think of a politician who’s been more of a disappointment in recent memory, largely I suppose because the expectations were so low for everyone else (I always knew Harper would be an authoritarian right-winger, for example). But at this point I have to wonder where Obama thinks he’ll get votes in 2012. He’s been a huge disappointment to the left by being about the equivalent of a George W. Bush with a triple-digit IQ, and the right wing is always going to hate him. His strategy right now is probably to hope that the Republicans will nominate a lazy, attention-whoring, unqualified, monumental moron, which should bring a good cross-section of the population into the Democratic fold, but what if the GOP doesn’t nominate Sarah Palin? What then?
Bait & Switch?
Maybe it’s just me, but when I enter a discount code good for a web site (I received the “invitation” today) I kinda expect the discount code to go towards the cost of an order at the same site. Â Especially when Barnes & Noble send out a “25% off anything” promo. However this doesn’t seem to apply to the new Nook Color, which apparently can’t be ordered at all from where I am.
So yes, I was drunk enough to attempt to order a new Nook Color, but B&N sees it fit to stop me from ordering it. Maybe they’re desperately trying to stop me from making a very stupid, drunken mistake. Â Well cheers B&N, you’re pretty much right. Â After panning the last incarnation of the Nook I really should know better than to spend money on such a flawed product. Thanks for saving me the money I guess. One could only hope all online merchants were so scrupulous.
A word of advice
I’m not a fraud specialist, nor do I want to encourage people to defraud authorities, but if you’re going to pretend you’re pregnant so as to get state benefits you really should stop claiming after 9 months. A pregnancy that lasts more than 3 years becomes suspect at some point.
For the new realities of flying
Concerned about the full-body scanner at the airport exposing your unmentionables? Just stick those Flying Pasties on and your modesty is protected, at least until they pull you into the side room for a strip search. As for myself, I feel that seeing me naked is its own punishment.
Delicious carnage and flavorful assaults
If you’re a military history buff and you’re hungry you’ll probably enjoy this montage of America-centric warfare from WWII to present-day in the medium of food.