Ezine

There is this cool blog called Ezine. I found it interesting that I can review their blog, and they'll add me to their blogroll. Thanks Ezineblog.org! Ezine talks about everything from politics to sports.

Hillary's Integral Campaign

(Read all about it.) This is the second time in three weeks!? Hillary, come on! We all know you're an excellent, well-spoken, integral, community serving lea... oh, wait.

"Electronic War"

(Read all about it.) Youtube shut down the account of Wael Abbas, a prominent Egyptian blogger who is known for posting videos of police brutality in his native country. This comes one day after the Republican CNN/Youtube debate. 

What a shame. Here I thought we were getting places; bringing the candidates to a human level, answering questions asked by ordinary citizens on a public forum. But now, we see that the forum we thought was open and free has a breaking point. Quite unfortunately, that breaking point is much less tolerant than I had originally thought. I do understand the need to block pornography; that's not what the service is for. But this? Really? Come on, let the public speak!


Many of the videos, taken with cell phones, are leaked to him by anonymous posters who find that Abbas will report on the stories when mainstream Egyptian media will not.

Hmm, sounds familiar...

UPDATE: Here is a link to his site, read all about it, if you speak Arabic.

Big Brother in the Sky

Glenn Reynolds (Instablogger) just post an article about a UAV originally tested by Houston local police now being used in Iraq. (Read all about it.)

What struck me here is not the article in itself (which I do find interesting, if you're wondering), but the use of a high-powered industrial UAV by a local police force. I personally find this ridiculous. So now a local police force has visibility over everything going on in their domain? That's big.

I guess I haven't explained the full magnitude of this yet. Let me, if I may. 

This police force is now pretty much able to monitor any one person's actions at any time of day, regardless of property restrictions (public or private). They claim to use it only for traffic violations, but at $1 million a piece, you would have to be an idiot to even entertain that idea. They damn well better be doing this with a warrant. (and good luck finding a judge who even knows what the hell a UAV is.) And this is just the local police force of Houston- who knows what's going on with the Feds.

(Here is another article on the issue, why don't you read all about it.)

Old Chris Muir Interview

I stumbled upon this old Chris Muir interview in my travels,
and I found it interesting. For anyone who doesn't know, Chris Muir is a well-respected cartoonist who runs an online comic strip (Day by Day) that I try to read on a relatively regular basis. His strips are usually political statements, and very often hilarious.

Anyways, I found the interview interesting. It is a couple years old (2003), and he very clearly has a sense of humbleness. It was early in his career, so I just found it interesting. Check it out, check him out.

Teddy Bears Named Muhammud

Read all about it. A Sudanese school teacher allowed a child to name his teddy bear Muhammad, after the child's name. The woman was charged with inciting religious hatred.

I think this is a clear sign of a new paranoia in Middle Eastern territories after the uproar from the bomb head Muhammad. We are starting to see a fear of terrorism in these countries. Well, okay, let me rephrase that. I think we understand that a fear of terrorism was always in existence, especially there. But this? Wow. A new level.

Cambodian's Best Friend

Oh, wow...
Crazy kid.
Kind of nuts, I wouldn't do it.

The Paradox Zone

Found this pretty interesting.

"So, all you hyper-moral pacifist purists, if you could learn Ms. Wang's location and save her by waterboarding a captured guard, would you do it? Or is her permanent crippling and disfigurement a satisfactory consequence of your own personal interpretation of right and wrong? That's what you seem to be saying by your absolute opposition to any form of physical coercion, even if it doesn't maim or kill.

But if that's really your position, then you've entered the paradox zone. You have to explain -- to your own satisfaction -- why it is less moral to commit a lesser crime in order to prevent a larger crime than it is to enable a larger crime by refusing to commit a lesser crime. You can't allow the SWAT sniper to shoot the kidnapper who's holding a knife to your spouse's throat. You can't acquit the woman who kills her rapist in an act of self defense. You can't acquit the father who kills a child-molester in the act of sodomizing his infant daughter. In all these examples the killers are guilty of the same order of crime you're too moral to commit."

Read all about it.

Papa Pilgrim Sees the Big House

Read all about it. Robert Hale, aka Papa Pilgrim, is about to spend the rest of his life behind bars. So you haven't heard of him, I suppose. Ok, fair enough. P&P, as he's called on the street, caused a major controversy in Alaska regarding the illegal use of a bulldozer in a national park. Long story short, he got the support of hippies everywhere and was built up to be a glorious anti big-government symbol.

This guy just got convicted for sexually assaulting his daughters and beating his children. At sixty. The judge on the case, Judge Donald Hopwood, called it "one of the worst cases of domestic violence I've seen."

Good job media, way to find the hero...

My New Profile Picture

Just getting back into the swing of things, give me a break. Anyways...
It's my new picture for the site- it's how the whole world views me. (no pressure though)








I like it... not the best picture of me, but I think it's simple and philosophical.