For those who need to catch up:

Viacom (CBS, Comedy Central) is suing YouTube/Google for $1 billion for facilitating copyright violations when videos (e.g. Daily Show, Colbert, CBS News) are uploaded to the YouTube site.

During discovery, Viacom demanded that Google turn over just about everything in its database, and the trial judge has ruled that they will have to turn over:

* all data concerning what videos users watched and uploaded;
* usernames;
* user IP addresses.

It's yet another example of the copyright laws being used to suppress free speech.  Don't buy it?  Read below the fold.

This just in, from my CAD Google group, of all places.

Verizon has gotten permission from the New York Attorney General to block its subscribers from large portions of the Internet, in the name of "child-porn blocking". The Chinese-style access-controlled internet is fast on its way...

The loss of liberty, to a generous mind, is worse than death.  And yet we know that there have been those in all ages who for the sake of preferment, or some imaginary honor, have freely lent a helping hand to oppress, nay to destroy, their country. This is what every man who values freedom ought to consider.  He should act by judgment and not by affection or self-interest; for where those prevail, no ties of either country or kindred are regarded; as upon the other hand, the man who loves his country prefers its liberty to all other considerations, well knowing that without liberty life is a misery.

In August of 1735, Andrew Hamilton helped found a belief that would become an important belief for our nation: that the TRUTH was never libel, and that the right of free speech should always be observed.  Today is a good day to remember those lessons.

Today's Roanoke Times is reporting on yet another attempt by rural idiots to defy the the 1st Amendment.  They are relying on the widely discredited program written and distributed by The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, to present a canned class based on the materials recently declared to be unConstitutional in Texas.

This bit of stubborn insistence on promoting a specific form of Christianity is occurring in Craig County, VA, in the far southwest.  This area includes the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, those famous Jim Webb ancestors, the Scots/Irish, and some of the prettiest landscapes in the mid-Atlantic.  The Hillsville Flea Market draws hundreds of thousand of annual visitors from all over the east coast, and the major interstate, I81, runs directly through the area.

None of this traffic, or fame, seems to be slowing down the Thumpers, however.

cross posted at The Ohm Project: an exercise in resistance

High resolution cameras covering nearly every inch of public space.  National IDs crammed with biometric data.  Facial recognition software that can't be defeated even by plastic surgery.  And a massive database to connect the cameras, the IDs, all financial and medical data.

It's not merely resident in the mind's eye of a screenwriter of the next dystopian thriller.  According to Naomi Klein in the latest issue of Rolling Stone , China has already implemented much of the above and is only a year or two away from completing this Information Age 1984 with the eager help of U. S. corporations and an American government that looks the other way as anti-export laws are violated.

I'm a young baby boomer. When in my teens, I remember feeling sorry for Russians. The media was controlled by the government.(I found this appalling.) The gov. lied to them. They couldn't travel. If they wanted to travel from one place to another, they had to show an ID. They even printed erroneous maps and placed rivers where they didn't belong. They were brainwashed with propaganda. I remember the rosy cheeked children, with their clear blue eyes and fair hair.It scared me to death; these beautiful children would be brainwashed like in a science fiction movie.

In high school, I read a book in which the author said the US and Russia had much in common and the US was looking at itself in the mirror. Of course I though the idea ridiculous.

Cross post from Docudharma

Top officials target media shield act

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey and three other top Bush administration officials are weighing in against .. .. the Free Flow of Information Act proposed by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania ..

The legislation gives an overly broad definition of journalists that "can include those linked to terrorists and criminals," wrote Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.

"All individuals and entities who 'gather' or 'publish' information about 'matters of public interest' but who are not technically designated terrorist organizations, foreign powers or agents of a foreign power will be entitled to the bill's protections," Mukasey and McConnell stated.

Journalists, press freedom. How quaint. What an old fashioned idea.

As I see it, the attack on Obama's pastor is a huge threat to the separation of church and state.

What Do White People Think Obama Will Do To Them?

Republicans in the state of Kentucky are still feeling the heat from the scalding they received from Kentucky Democratic Blogs and whistleblowers, which helped to bring down a corrupt republican governor.

This is their answer.

Yes, and now, all of those questions you've had about her will finally be answered.

No, not that.

The current issue of Hustler Magazine has an article entitled "Is Ann Coulter a Felon?" written by Brad Friedman of the Bradblog, and, I'm quoted in it.

The article details how Ann Coulter may have committed voter fraud in 2006 and so far gotten away with it.

I have to admit that I was surprised at my new notoriety.  Here's how I found out about it:

Announcement from the Bradblog.

St. Paul Police Orders Tasers For Every Officer

Police spokesman Tom Walsh says the Taser is stronger than a verbal order and less dangerous than a gun, especially in the case of a violent or unstable subject.

"It’s a safety issue for both the person being arrested and the officer," Walsh said. "The bottom line is the Taser is an effective device that does not require the use of deadly force."

I wonder why they want so many tasers for the RNC....

And sorry: the police will be using them on protesters, not Republicans. Apologies for getting people's hopes up.

Make the jump.

I just received an email from the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition:

The Partnership for Civil Justice urges activists and organizations to attend the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) public hearing on demonstrations this Saturday, January 12 at 10 am.

The NPS has launched an initiative, much like that launched to exclude protests from New York City's Great Lawn, that will be used to further restrict or ban protest on the Mall from current levels. This is a component of a nationwide campaign of corporate-sponsored organizations working in partnership with government entities that claim that protests, rallies and demonstrations harm grass or "green space" or "natural resources" and must therefore be restricted or banned or shunted off to designated protest pits.

I thought using propaganda on American citizens by American citizens, and especially by American citizens in the American gov't, and especially especially those who are elected to AMerican Gov't ... is illegal??!!
WHy then oh why is Senator Inhofe's website with 400 faux global warming deniers, a link on  FAUX Noise's Website as a LATEST NEWS update?  Media Matters points it out, but I just want to know WHY this is not an issue with Congress??
ANYBODY!!

First time I've ever randomly decided to poke cnn.com, and I find this gem:

*Teacher James Buss wrote anonymous post praising Columbine H.S. shooters
*His supporters say post was ironic response to anti-teacher posts
*Another teacher read it, called police, and Buss was arrested
*D.A. mulling whether to charge Buss with disorderly conduct

Consider yet another recent hatchet job against a particular Democratic candidate, that received 813 comments, and made the recommended list.

Also consider the overall mountain of diaries ripping into Democratic candidates, in relation to the satirically understated conclusion of this diary by a NON Clinton supporter, defending Clinton from distorted attacks (fancy that):

It is time that Democrats, instead of simply uttering conclusions, used examples and the power of suggestion, to make the case against their Republican counterparts.

Take a cue from them. They are focused on Clinton, not each other. This does not mean that we should be as focused on Clinton as they are. Remember, we are on the other side.

Hunter, of this, the most popular political webblog in America, has written some brilliantly witty stuff lately. A few examples are here, and here.

Last Friday, in a piece which I only hope was mocking Larry Sabato’s idea to institutionalize our two party system into the U.S. Constitution, and have "colored ball" lotteries determine electoral voting states (or whatever his inane idea says), Hunter was in rare form. And he made several thoughtful, contemplative Amendment suggestions that would improve our Constitution immeasurably.

In a tribute unworthy of riding in the wake of Hunter’s excellent idea, I suggest looking at a few of these and others, and even propose a few additional Constitutional Amendments to add to his already excellent list myself -- that perhaps, equal to Sabato’s misplaced energies, might also be worth considering.

I went to the General Clark book signing downtown only to hear him announce that the Cornyn amendment (read challenge to the 1st Amendment IMHO) passed with a dramatic margin whilst the Webb Amendment and Habeas Corpus hang in a Filibuster Limbo.

Even as I sat there half listening to him read from his book about a battle in Vietnam, one in which he was seriously wounded, it took me a while to actually digest what'd happened with regards to the vote.