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If somebody told me teen would be locked up after refusing to watch TV commercials in school, I'd think they were kidding.

I can't provide a link to this one, but a certain religious radio station gave away three radios as a promotion in a very low-income area - radios that were locked into the station's frequency, with no way to change it.

An ATM tried to show me a commercial for something today.

Does it seem to anybody else that we're in a handbasket going you know where?

A: &nbsp Israel:Arabs::Nazi Germany:Jews

bullshit - try to get one of these on a major network.

.02

cLive ;-)

bullshit - try to get one of these on a major network.

.02

cLive ;-)

The difficulty of getting non-traditional information in ad spots reminds me of AdBusters trying to get TV airtime for their Uncommercials because they're both having trouble getting non-traditional spots in ad slots and they both bring public awareness to their trouble.

Sounds like you are an excellent candidate to read adbusters.

Welcome.

Funny you should bring that up since TV-Turn-off-week starts the Monday after next (4/22 - 28th), and it's doubly funny since it also coincides with The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Blackout (4/21 - 27th). I'll be participating in both - the net effect on the TV execs will probably be nil, but the net effect on Taco will (hopefully) be a renewed respect for the importance of where slashdots content actually comes from.

Memes for things like the T(H)GSB travel well online, but no so well offline when it comes to couch potates. I'm really surprised that adbusters managed to even get their message *on* TV. I remember reading that in the past the networks flat out denied to run their ads since it might piss off their other pro-consumer advertisers - which it would, and that is also kind of the point too.

--

Check out Stay Free! Magazine or Adbusters. If you can find issues locally, buy one or two. I subscribed for a year (that was enough -- the ranting does get tiresome), and it was enough to jolt my sensibilities just a bit. I'd actually rate Stay Free! much better than Adbusters, as the articles are more researched and meaningful.

You will come to realize that TV is a medium for ads (these rags cover consumerism in all respects, not just TV), and , as such, you are being used as a consumer, not graciously being given entertainment. This might seem obvious, but until one takes a critical look at it, you don't necessarily know just how bad it is.

I enforced severe TV rationing in our household 1-1/2 years ago. Guess what? The kids: can actually entertain themselves now (they can uctaully use crayons and Lincoln Logs creatively); don't pester us for soda and candy-coated cereals, unlike most of the un-tamed kids we encounter at the local grocery; like to play outside! Me and my Wife: read more books and magazines; listen to more music; talk more.

I'm not saying that TV can't be used in moderation. Hell, my wife and I love a good Trek episode, Good Eats, Croc Hunter, but we don't pay for cable access (and wouldn't if we had to), and we watch maybe 4 hours a TV a week (movies not included, but those are rare). Sometimes I simply want to drool and not think about anything, but at least I ackowledge that's exactly what I do when I watch the boob-tube.

Like a lot of things, moderation is the key, and everyone must decide for themselves just how much is too much. However, I don't think the average population really can make a healthy decision about what "too much" is. And goes for a lot of stuff, not just TV. I'm not trying to be elitist here, but rather recognize some societal problems. My family has pulled itself out of a lot of the ruts I see most people in, and I wish more people would follow for their own sake.

I think this SinFest thread sums it up nicely. :)

• Corporations are defined as 'people' under the law, thanks to a bizarr and unprecedented court ruling some 80 year ago IIRC.

It was an 1886 decision.

This is excellent opinion piece that gives some of the history.

AND IT ALL SUCKS.

All of it, that is, except for the commercials. It's so strange to me. All the sitcoms are boring, banal ripoffs of one another. All the dramas this year seem to be about people that work with cadavers and, well, there you go. The news is little better than supermarket tabloids (the "news magazines" are probably worse if only because they pretend to be better than what they are), and I'm really starting to find Jay Leno's stubbornly middlebrow idea of entertainment deeply offensive. How can anyone actually enjoy this crap? I used to like Jay Leno, now I just want to strangle the fucker. Another Clinton joke? Let it go man, just fuckin' let it go.

And yet mixed in with the crappy entertainment and quote-unquote news are these little fifteen second masterpieces, with clever writing, brilliant cinematrography and effects, and better music than anything available on the radio. Nevermind the fact that it's all brilliantly crafted to make you CONSUME CONSUME CONSUME -- it also happens to be the only thing on broadcast television that is brilliant. Full stop.

Why isn't there a commercial station on the radio playing the techno & indie rock & jazz you hear in car commercials these days? Why are the only clever examples of wordplay & wittiness (and, again, more good music) in Apple commercials?

I mean, you're right that there's something seriously disturbing about this inversion: the networks always did try to make the shows just interesting enough to keep the audience watching commercials, but now they're making the commercials themselves far more interesting than the shows. I should be rebelling against that, as a card-carrying, Nader-voting, NPR-listening, anti-consumerist liberal. But I can't help it.

If it wasn't for the clever commercials, I'd want to leave the house every time my fiance turns the television on. As it is, I just sit and use the computer or read a book, and look up whenever the commericals come back on. Part of me dies every time this happens ...but part of me likes it, too.

:-/

Yes, I think its absolutely ridiculous that advertisements have become a form of entertainment. Of course, /. appeals to the yuppie generation, where materialism means a lot, and hence, advertisment becomes an inherent part of their life.

People here at /. complain about web banners, popups, popunders, etc. but they go giddy when they get to watch TV commericials. Some are willing to pay money to watch advertisements. How does that make any sense? Of course that's not that surprising when you can see t-shirts everywhere advertising nike, armani, ck, etc, for 20-30 bucks a pop. Simply calling a form of advertisement by a different name - fashion - and people are willing to pay.

Check out adbusters for some good critical views on advertisments and over-commercialization.

The thing that was wrong with AdCritic.com was that it wasn't about criticism of advertisements, either in general or of particular ads; people just went to watch ads.

The best thing they could do to improve it is give it to the AdBusters folks.

But they are legal citizens.
Read half-way down.

Not that I don't agree with the intent of
your idea, or that of the article.
The problems is lawyers playing Mr. Orwell
with the language, so that the Constitution means
whatever they want it to mean, without changing
a single word. Then again, as always, IANAL.

(You know, with the increasingly large number of
lawyers in the US, you'd think I'd see less 'IANAL', not more)

-Slackergod

Ah, yes, but it's not just the entertainment industry that you have to deal with. They have lots of ties. There's a good summary here (the fruits of a Google search). Entertainment and the major TV networks are tied in with power (GE, Westinghouse), AOL, and Philip Morris (already a massive company).

For example, Disney's ties (from the document linked above):

DISNEY / ABC / CAP

Television Holdings:

ABC: includes 10 stations, 24% of US households.
ABC Network News: Prime Time Live, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America.
ESPN, Lifetime Television (50%), as well as minority holdings in A&E, History Channel and E!
Disney Channel/Disney Television, Touchtone Television.

Media Holdings:

Miramax, Touchtone Pictures.
Magazines: Jane, Los Angeles Magazine, W, Discover.
3 music labels, 11 major local newspapers.
Hyperion book publishers.
Infoseek Internet search engine (43%).

Other Holdings:

Sid R. Bass (major shares) crude oil and gas.
All Disney Theme Parks, Walt Disney Cruise Lines.

Yo folks, haven't you heard of the Boston Tea Party? Colonists protested unjust taxation on Tea imports by breaking into a tea shipment and throwing it into the ocean. Perhaps it's time to repeat this bit of history...

The tea party in question wouldn't happen today, because corporations hold our nations' economies hostage. They don't serve the public, we serve the corporate agenda. In the 16th century, this wasn't the case, and the main force of the East India company was its monopoly by fiat. Today, corporations have power of their own which is only supplemented by government power (as in this case).

The astute reader will note that this can only get worse as corporate profit becomes more global - able to easily jump from country to country, corporations may play one off against the other in a bidding war for economical benefit. You and I will be the losers in the game, then as now.

What do to about it? I don't know. I suspect it's inevitable, given the headlock corporations have on our governments and, through the mass media, the prejudices of a large slice of our populations (I say "prejudices", because the opinions I am describing are formed based on inadequately balanced information). I know *I* feel disenfranchised.

Unfortunatly the American idea of freedom has been transformed, and what remains is solely a concern with the freedom to make money.

Some of you out there (that haven't already found it) may find this to be an interesting read.

The hilarious and refreshing adbusters site claims that back in the day when a corporation exceeded its powers or ceased to serve the public interest, its charter was revoked and its very right to exist was nullified

Their main point is that corporate personhood--which grants corporations some rights as individuals--has effectively eroded the rights of real individuals. Since corporations have vast resources to vigorously defend their rights, they exercise more rights than you and I.

I think that we shouldn't fixate on Microsoft; there is a wider problem of corporations becoming too powerful in general. Microsoft is a symptom.

Libertarianism talks about the rights and freedoms of humans. Nothing about it says that abstract constructs like corporations should get the same rights. Wanting to curb corporate power is entirely consistent with libertarianism, as far as I can tell.

No.. actually, that wasn't the intended nature of the corporation. That came from a 1886 US Supreme Court ruling that essentially fucked everything up.

look here for a document that details all this.

I can't take credit for finding that though.. someone else on here did..

AdBusters went away, dude, and WhatReallyHappened may not be far behind. Sure, there's people out there that want to speak the truth, but noone wants to provide them with the funds to do it with.

It's adbusters.org, not ".com". And it hasn't gone away.

My guess is that you're think of the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific RR case from 1886. It's actually quite interesting. The Supreme Court decided that the 14th Amendment applies to corporations.

"The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of opinion that it does."

It was quite a landmark case. You can read the original ruling, or see one of many interpretations.

The internet, on the other hand, is "many to many," and this is a critical difference. Now, I'm not saying that the internet doesn't have propoganda, and I'm not saying that the playing field is completely level on the internet, but I'm saying that it's a hell of a lot more level, and getting more so every day. On the internet, I can speak, I can communicate with other minds, not corporate conglomerations (okay, they're here too), but they're not the only ones here!

I think that a big change will happen with the internet with the widespread use of real broadband, and I think the best way we can do that is to use (mostly, I would imagine) wireless and wired technology to build real community networks, that are not owned by companies. When I have a real IP on a real network, the possibilities are much greater. Give me the net over TV any day. I'd rather think than vegitate.

Cheers, Joshua

or sell it to the pawn shop... whichever.

In your interpretation, the first ammendment guarantees to every American the right to step up on a cactus in the Arizona desert and howl their opinions to their hearts' content. Others might say that the first ammendment protects speech as a form of communicating with other human being, a radical idea that might entitle people to a reasonable access to communication media. Nah, that's communism.

FYI check adbusters to see how corporate media makes sure you are not exposed to speech that might harm their commercial interest.

Well, there are two ways this could be handled. First, if they use enough of your bandwidth, you could probably charge them with doing a DOS attack on your site; that's a serious crime in the US now.

Doesn't have to be a DOS attack, just generate real page hits.. it wouldn't take but a few extra thousand page hits a day to take these mom and pop companies down.. just require that every person in your mega-corporation checks the competing web sight or the negative publicity websight three times a day to see if there are any updates.. that will easily create enough hits to drive a small website owner under.. ;).. or you can just create a script that checks for updates to the page every second.. if you get called into court (HIGHLY unlikely) you can say: "Hey, we were just trying to keep updated on changes to the site, we didn't know that monitoring them that heavily would cost them so much bandwith"

Second, many states have laws against SLAPP suits (nuicence suits brought by large corporations against grass-roots organizations). It's not a lawsuit, but if you're being harassed by a large corporation, it's actionable. There are about a billion lawyers who would love to sue a big company and get the "David vs. Goliath" publicity.

Ohh, and this works ohh so well.. mega-corporations never ever ever use their resources to scare people with litigation into submission(/sarcasm)... Mega-corporations always have more resources than the grass-roots effort, and when it becomes a challenge of who can keep it in court longer (as it always does) the corporation almost always wins...

The other completely moronic dumbass statement you made was:

Yeah, it's good for the consumer when inefficient businesses go under and places that can sell the same item for less money move in.

If being a mega-corporation is the only way to make a deal to get decent prices, why don't mom-and-pops set up an organziation to bulk-buy goods (a couple of mom-and-pops in each town, with a few thousand towns)? I've heard of this new Internet thingie that lets people communicate over long distances...

It's obviously not bulk buying that drives mom and pop companies out of buisness (as much as Wal-Mart wants to say it is). It's having enough cash reserves to sell your products at a loss longer than the mom and pop companies can sell at a loss.

Initially this looks good to the consumer, they are getting products at a rate that is so low that the companies are loosing money to get it to them. However, as soon as the competition is all gone (as it will inevitably happen, when playing this type of last man standing game), then suddenly it becomes very bad for the consumer, as companies no longer have to focus on good prices (so prices skyrocket, as they always do when there is a corporate "You either buy it from me or you don't get it" mentality) and they also loose focus on customer service.

Today's lesson: mega-corporations and monopolies are bad for the consumer

BTW: My name is also Jon.. It's always refreshing to find someone else that spells their name jon (as I'm sure you are aware it's a fairly rare spelling). ;)

This sounds like a mission for AdBusters.

AdBusters is a non-profit organisation that marches against hyper-capitalism and corporate manipulation. They're not crazy, just pissed. I like, and you should too.

As far as I can tell, the "No Electronic Theft" or NET act, making it illegal "to reproduce or distribute, including by electronic means, one or more copyrighted works having a total retail value of more than $1,000." (description from this page) is now law. It seems that you can read it here.

Now, it should be obvious to any reasonable person that 99% of the people who warez down software either can't afford to buy it, and so never would have bought it, or are just trying it out and will probably either buy it or decide it's crap and never run it again. Software "piracy" might not be a victimless crime, but it comes awfully close.

So why are the feds so concerned about it? Could be just that the adbusters people are right, and the corporations' interests override common sense and the public interest (like, having the FBI spend its time on actual threats to public safety rather than warez mavens, most of whom would probably never hurt a fly.)

But there's a subtler, more chilling trend going on, too. It's already illegal to buy or sell a radio scanner that tunes the cellular frequencies; you can't buy a wideband receiver unless you're the government (or live overseas; so much for the "land of the free"), and I believe you're not allowed to tune into alphanumeric pagers, though I can't find a reference for this. And the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to all of us, not the government, damnit; why can't I do what I want with the electrons running through my antenna on my property?

With these raids, they're telling us what we can and can't do with the bits that come down our cable modem; and with the truly chilling SSSCA and prohibitions on digital VCRs, they're going to prevent the computer and home electronics manufacturers from selling boxes that will even permit us from doing things they don't like with the bits.

It's still a pretty long way before Big Brother and the two-way, spying TV-- but that is the direction we are moving, and as annoying as it is that I'm not gonna be able to get warez as easily now, the broader implications are what really bug me.

As far as I can tell, the "No Electronic Theft" or NET act, making it illegal "to reproduce or distribute, including by electronic means, one or more copyrighted works having a total retail value of more than $1,000." (description from this page) is now law. It seems that you can read it here.

Now, it should be obvious to any reasonable person that 99% of the people who warez down software either can't afford to buy it, and so never would have bought it, or are just trying it out and will probably either buy it or decide it's crap and never run it again. Software "piracy" might not be a victimless crime, but it comes awfully close.

So why are the feds so concerned about it? Could be just that the adbusters people are right, and the corporations' interests override common sense and the public interest (like, having the FBI spend its time on actual threats to public safety rather than warez mavens, most of whom would probably never hurt a fly.)

But there's a subtler, more chilling trend going on, too. It's already illegal to buy or sell a radio scanner that tunes the cellular frequencies; you can't buy a wideband receiver unless you're the government (or live overseas; so much for the "land of the free"), and I believe you're not allowed to tune into alphanumeric pagers, though I can't find a reference for this. And the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to all of us, not the government, damnit; why can't I do what I want with the electrons running through my antenna on my property?

With these raids, they're telling us what we can and can't do with the bits that come down our cable modem; and with the truly chilling SSSCA and prohibitions on digital VCRs, they're going to prevent the computer and home electronics manufacturers from selling boxes that will even permit us from doing things they don't like with the bits.

It's still a pretty long way before Big Brother and the two-way, spying TV-- but that is the direction we are moving, and as annoying as it is that I'm not gonna be able to get warez as easily now, the broader implications are what really bug me.

We, the taxpayers, have had to fund more shit -- all in the name of the Olympics and World Peace -- only to get little in return. Yeah, we have wider highways, but they're already as congested as they were before I-15 construction began. We have a light rail in town, but they had to up sales tax for that (and I'm sure it won't go back down when its done). The U. just lost a few thousand parking lots to accomodate the games -- and I'm sure all of you University admins know how parking on a large campus already sucks.

I'm so sick of these fucking Olympic organizations. The IOC and the SLOC (with phony Mr Romney at the helm), are are a bunch of corporate whores who rape the local communities for getting a few bucks in return.

This whole thing really pisses me off, if you haven't figured that out by now. If the network is hacked, I'll be laughing my ass off. I'm gonna fly my Corporate Flag on my car when I crawl through downtown traffic when I'm on my way to/from work during the "games". Not that it'll change anything, but at least I'll feel better.

Your charity idea is worth considering tho.

"He who possesses little is so much the less possessed... Thus spoke Zarathustra."

Speak out against Chinese-style internet censorship by urging the 5 Media Companies to end their practice of censoring ads for Buy Nothing Day which adbusters.org has tried to purchase for the last several years. Each year, the Five turn down the paid ads from adbusters, citing that they do not run ads that advocate a cause. This is rubbish, considering that nearly all advertisement advocates the cause of mindless consumerism.

Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the holiday season. The purpose of the campaign is to bring awareness to the problems of rampant consumerism that are magnified around the holidays. Why is it that we are encouraged to live beyond our means when consumer debt is at an all-time high, most people work more than 40 hours a week, and joblessness and homelessness are on the rise?

Ask yourself: Is capitalist censorship any better than communist censorship?

Speak out against Chinese-style internet censorship by urging the 5 Media Companies to end their practice of censoring ads for Buy Nothing Day which adbusters.org has tried to purchase for the last several years. Each year, the Five turn down the paid ads from adbusters, citing that they do not run ads that advocate a cause. This is rubbish, considering that nearly all advertisement advocates the cause of mindless consumerism.

Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the holiday season. The purpose of the campaign is to bring awareness to the problems of rampant consumerism that are magnified around the holidays. Why is it that we are encouraged to live beyond our means when consumer debt is at an all-time high, most people work more than 40 hours a week, and joblessness and homelessness are on the rise?

Ask yourself: Is capitalist censorship any better than communist censorship?

Joe Chemo would be proud. This is exactly what antitrust laws are supposed to prevent.

Skip the commercial crap altogether -- exchange gift exemption vouchers and do something relaxing on Buy Nothing Day.

Skip the commercial crap altogether -- exchange gift exemption vouchers and do something relaxing on Buy Nothing Day.

How about a gift for the planet? The 23d is the "Buy Nothing Day"

People aren't avoiding you 'cause of the tinfoil hat. It's the swoosh brand on your forehead that freaks 'em. They haven't been sufficiently assimilated to want one of their own. Yet.

Elvis Presley, because of this quote from Culture Jam:
Over a tweny-year period, Elvis Presley evolved from the avatar of American cool to the embodiment of American excess. Almost entirely confined to bed in his last months, Elvis devoured pills and fried-banana-and-peanut-butter sandwiches, suppressing the pain of being Elvis and seemingly trying to lose himself inside his own expanding girth. He was found, appropriately, dead on the throne, head down, like an offensive lineman waiting for the snap. Three points of contact: his fat hand on the tile and his ass on the porcelain.
There is no better metaphor for the old American dream. With a few exceptions, we are all Elvis now. We have learned what it means to live full-on, to fly and fornicate like an American, and now we refuse to let that lifestyle go. So we keep consuming. Our bodies, minds, families, communities, the environment - all are consumed.

One of the most popular singers and one of the first to die the tragic rockstar death. now that's cultural statement.

And then what do you do when /. has to shut down? ...

Why try to cheat? You obviously like /. or you wouldn't be here. Isn't it worth it to you for them to stay around? I know it is for me.

How would you feel if you struggled to keep something alive that you loved and all the people hitting the site blocked your only revenue generating system? I'd be really disappointed in humanity.

HA! Have a look at this: Nike 100% Slave Labour billboard.

Absurd isnt it...talk about gaul.

I've been eyeing up Intrinsyc's CerfCube. It cost $379 but it's worth a look. There was an thread on /. a couple months ago so maybe some /.ers can give you some first hand feedback.

Or maybe you want to consider Buy Nothing Day. If so, get you Christmas Gift Exemption Voucher here.

I've been eyeing up Intrinsyc's CerfCube. It cost $379 but it's worth a look. There was an thread on /. a couple months ago so maybe some /.ers can give you some first hand feedback.

Or maybe you want to consider Buy Nothing Day. If so, get you Christmas Gift Exemption Voucher here.

I've been eyeing up Intrinsyc's CerfCube. It cost $379 but it's worth a look. There was an thread on /. a couple months ago so maybe some /.ers can give you some first hand feedback.

Or maybe you want to consider Buy Nothing Day. If so, get you Christmas Gift Exemption Voucher here.

"He who possesses little is so much the less possessed... Thus spoke Zarathustra."

I agree with the notion that we are dominated by corporate interests. I mean look, our Government is headed by the Major Oil Interests. Rice: Exxon, Bush: Zapata, Cheney: Halliburton.

The top media execs site on the boards of major oil companies.(damn, the link for support of the statement ain't working right now)

In any case, we have not been free for some time now. As pointed out in the book Culture Jam and excerpted on Adbusters American has a secret and untold history of corporate domination. From the article:

"A bitplayer in the official history becomes critically important to the way the unofficial history unfolds. This player turns out to be not only the provocateur of the revolution, but in the end its saboteur. This player lies at the heart of America's defining theme: the difference between a country that pretends to be free and a country that truly is free.

That player is the corporation."

The corporation chews up the human and the planet in favor of production and profit. I know that sounds communist, but.. Look at how the Corporation works. Because of this fact it will be easier for what I feel is the "Current Corporation" in power to continue to whittle away at the rights and the souls of the people in our fine country, because unfortunately the dominance of the media has uncanny abilities to manipulate as if through sorcery the minds and the hearts of a population. Because the Corporation has not the goals of the people in mind, it becomes easier and more useful to do this.

Another interesting link to a interview with Dr. Nancy Snow on the propaganda wing of the US Foreign Policy to sell a Corporate message overseas. Let me tell you, I spent a year over in Asia and the messages coming from us are intensly strong, pervasive, and have an amazing ability to render memories of us bombing a country to smitherreens to nil, as the chants begin: USA is #1!!!

Her book is Propaganda Inc.

Lastly, I saw this here a couple of days ago I think. I found it quite scary:

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

-- Hermann Goering


trying to build a list of alternative news sources daily:

One more thing, if you want people to take the dangerous of Microsoft seriously, then refer to them as Microsoft. If you choose some bastardization of their name, people will immediately write you off and not even pretend to think about what your saying.

I disagree, in fact Id say that is absolutely untrue. By bastardizing the Microshaft name, we very intentionally use their massive marketing muscle against them.

Doing these association techniques we are purposefully meddling with their mind control program (marketing) by dropping their name proper and forcing people to read "MS" but see "M$", or read Microsoft but see/think "Macroshaft".

Go read a little about memetics, culture jamming and propaganda. Then move on to some Chomsky

It is very usefull vaccine to the marketing mess they blast at humanity.

[culture jam disclaimer]Now IANAL, and I suspect that actually doing this would not be viewed as appropriate by store owners and cops but . . . [/culture jam disclaimer]

People could help the industry out . . . produce stickers on your printer at home and take them with you when you shop. Consult your list of CDnots and affix something like:

ALERT: This is not a CD! It may not work on your equipment. Check http://...... to find out why.

This is just the kind of campaign that Adbusters Adbusters[adbusters.org] specializes in.

ALERT: This is not a CD! It may not work on your equipment. Check http://...... to find out why.

I need a mobile phone, so I go out and buy one. I don't, as a general rule, need a gun.

Sorry buddy, but you are a biological creature. You need nourishment, water, and--depending where on this great ball you choose to live--varying degrees of protection from the elements. You want all kinds of things, such as cell phones, gas guzzlers, and other status symbols. You remind me of the image portrayed in a recent issue of AdBusters, that of a sleeping baby and the words "he doesn't need anything, but will soon learn to want everything".

By the way, our "need" for a cheap and stable supply of oil is what got us into this mess. We were warned eleven years ago when we (America and its European allies) desecrated Islamic holy lands by establishing a permanent military presence there. We were also warned when the terrorist Ronald Reagan blew up Gaddhafi's (sic) child.

Can God forgive us for what we have unleashed?

But there is an important difference. In Red Russia, the Government would throw you in jail if you poase a threat the Govenrment. In America, the Government throws you in jajil if you pose a threat to a Corporation. Our New U.S. Flag makes it easier to understand.

That guy with the sig, the quote by the president of Visa, has got it right.