Slashdot Mirror
A Look at Technology Legislation for 2006
segphault writes "Ars Technica provides some insight into technology legislation scheduled for congressional review in 2006. From the article: 'Congress plans to cover some important tech issues in 2006 [...] like digital communication, intellectual property law, and computer security. [...] Patent reform is also on the menu. Industry groups have requested that the government allow them to participate in the patent review process, and some legislators have discussed imposing stricter constraints upon patent related injunctions..'"
HELLO WORLD
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HELLO WORLD
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K-BYE
Spying on the US Security State. Countermeasures for US Citizens
12/27/2005 10:45
Is anyone really surprised that the USA now openly advocates torture, spying on its own citizens, or equates dissent with aiding and abetting the "brutal killers" as Bush describes them?
Whew! Life is imitating art. President Bush stars as Sgt. Bob Barnes, the maniacal soldier in Oliver Stone's Platoon, who proclaims that he "is reality". Vice President Cheney is Dr. Phibes as portrayed by Vincent Price in the movie classic, The Abominable Doctor Phibes. You want torture? Talk to Dr. Phibes. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld brings to life Colonel Walt Kurtz, the rogue US Army soldier from Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. American society is modeled on Starship Troopers' militarized society at war with the insects from another galaxy. A great scene in Troopers is a segment which shows children stamping out bugs with glee as the narrator says, "Support the war effort. Do your part to kill the bug!" Welcome to the USA.
Is anyone really surprised that the USA now openly advocates torture, spying on its own citizens, or equates dissent with aiding and abetting the "brutal killers" as Bush describes them? Ummm, should US homegrown serial killers be designated enemy combatants? Who could argue with a clear conscience that the US didn't have 911 coming. Civilians are innocent, the American fundamentalists say. Oh me, oh my, the victimized USA and so much innocence lost on that day. That sentimental dream went out the window long ago with the Allied bombing of Dresden in WWII and the fire-bombing and subsequent use of nuclear weapons against Japan. Add Rwanda and Darfur to that and, right at home, add decades of US government approved racial segregation, plus the US government's response to Katrina and, for that matter, 911. Useless commissions, staged congressional hearings, senseless senses of congress, a presidential press conference. All by formula, of course. What's the point? Nothing changes.
The USA is no victim or innocent bystander in the world's machinations. Each and every US citizen is responsible for the actions of its leaders--such as they are. If the American people want a militarized state, then so be it. Have some brass and go for it. If they want to torture, then they should have the guts to stick a knife in the throat of a living human being and watch'em gurgle and die. The NO TORTURE amendment of John McCain is a joke. The US government is a government by and for loopholes. It'll go on as long as the USA exists.
Of Mice and Evil Doers
Why limit the game to waterboarding or electric shock? Use the Spanish Inquisition era Mouse Trap. Put a bunch of mice into an open metal container and then secure it and them on the abdomen of the evil doer/dissenter. Slowly apply heat to the metal. Mice burrow when they can't run. Use your imagination. The "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." What nonsense! Special operators are brave, some journalists and citizens are brave, fire fighters and first responders are brave, but most Americans are from the Land of the Cowardly.
The overthrown regimes, the assassinations, the support for murderous regimes, silencing dissidents, eliminating politicians and sanctioning the use of torture and murder of civilians the world over is the standard mode of operations. The leaders of the USA work hard to ensure that they are not charged with war crimes or plain old violation of US law - such as it is. And the American people tolerate it. At the pace the USA is pissing off the rest of the world, expect more 911's.
We have to, in all seriousness, thank Bush and his crew for speaking bluntly about what has been known for so long by so few, but never really exposed. Yes, Americans, your leaders authorize torture, domestic spying, and are adept at creating threats that lead to wars. After all, it's good for business and anyway, how would "you", White Collar Proletariat, know what it takes to keep the gas pumps in operation or wha
Castro attacks Bush and says any US-led invasion of Cuba will fail
12/27/2005 11:30
The Communist leader called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "mad"
The Cuban President Fidel Castro said that any US invasion to his country would fail and called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "mad" after Washington announced plans for a "democratic transition" in the Caribbean Island last week. Castro talked before the Nationl Assembly shortly after his government announced that it had turned a corner in its econmical recovery from severe financial crisis, reportin 11.8 percent growth in 2005.
"I am going to tell you what I think about this famous commission, for the democratic transition in Cuba: they are a group of shit-eaters who do not deserve the world's respect," Castro told the National Assembly. "In this context, it does not matter if it was the mad woman who talks of transition - it is a circus, they are completely depraved, they should be pitied," added the 79-year-old Cuban leader.
While US imperialism was in its decline, Castro said, his revolution is "uncontainable and unstoppable. "We are in transition: to socialism, to communism," Castro insisted.
Castro has been recently strenghtened by a number of victories of left wing parties in recent South American elections. The leaders of these parties: Tabare Vazquez, in Uruguay; Lula da Silva, in Brazil; Nestor Kirchner, in Argentina; Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela; and lately Evo Morales, in Bolivia, support his rule in Cuba and are critics of the US policies toward the region.
Economy rebound
Addressing the communist nation's lawmakers as President Fidel Castro looked on, Economics Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez said the Caribbean nation had fully recovered from the 1990s, when austerity measures were adopted to survive the economic crisis caused by the Soviet Union's collapse.
"This could be considered the highest in revolutionary history," Rodriguez said of the growth figure, referring to the 47-year-long administration of Castro, who came to power with the Jan. 1, 1959, triumph of the Cuban revolution.
The economics minister also projected economic growth of 10 percent for 2006. Rodriguez said the biggest income earners for Cuba this year were tourism, nickel and the exportation of services - especially doctors and other medical workers hired by other countries such as Venezuela to provide free care to poor people.