Here are some DVD’s that Iraqi insurgents use as both training and recruitment tools. It’s quite graphic.
If this doesn’t make it plainly obvious that Iraq is another Vietnam, I don’t know what does.
This war isn’t going anywhere.
Why don’t we lower taxes for the rich and then spend some more money we don’t have on the war?
So the idiotic broadband companies are trying to do away with net neutrality and charge companies like Google for “access to their pipes.” The net effect of this would be that, unless Google paid a company like Verizon a fee, Verizon could slow down your and my access to Google when using Verizon’s lines.
Nevermind that consumers and businesses both pay for access to the Internet—because Verizon and Comcast and SBC don’t do anything exciting except connect us to the Net they feel like they’re missing out on the money that truly innovative companies like Google and Yahoo are making.
Message to Verizon, et al: you guys are like the water company. We need you, but only so much as to make sure that the data is flowing, and then to stay the hell out of our way. We don’t want to hear from you, we don’t want to see you, we just want access to the Internet and for you to do it without interruption or annoyance.
So, as usual, I wrote Senators Boxer and Feinstein. My letter:
Dear Senator Boxer:
At Senate Commerce Committee hearings that began today, broadband providers tried to make a case for a new ability to charge various companies for priority service on their networks. They argued that since companies like Google and Yahoo are making money on the Internet that they should somehow get a piece of that pie. I cannot disagree with this position strongly enough. I firmly believe that if these broadband providers are allowed to do such a thing that they will be the only ones who win out, and meanwhile prices will rise for consumers and other businesses while all of the innovation that the Internet has brought us will be stifled.
I am writing to urge you to vote to support any and all measures that would mandate net neutrality for Internet service providers. I am a small business owner who makes a living creating innovative Internet solutions. California is a state of companies that do the same, and in the process effectively drive the Californian, American, and even global economy. The Internet has always been governed by an implicit principle of net neutrality, and as such has allowed all of the innovations of the fifteen years to happen.
As it currently stands, consumers pay for access to the Internet. Likewise, companies like Google pay for their access to the Internet. Why exactly these broadband companies think that they should be able to impose restrictions or charges on either of those two parties when both are already paying for the service in the first place is beyond me.
As Google has pointed out, the barriers to entry for being an innovative company on the Internet are extremely low– anybody with a good idea and some dedication can create something amazing in their garage– and those barriers are so low almost entirely because of net neutrality. Imposing fees on a company of Google’s size wouldn’t do much to their bottom line, but it would raise that barrier to entry so high that the next Google or Yahoo would probably never be able to get off the ground. When the next amazing thing comes along it may never see the light of day unless net neutrality is maintained.
This issue is of such vital importance to our state, country and economy that I do not think it can be stressed enough. Please do whatever it takes to see that net neutrality is mandated, that prices remain reasonable for everyone, and that innovation can continue to flourish on the Internet.
Sincerely,
Nick Hodulik
In my last post I pointed out that conservative Australian politicians are worried that an HPV vaccine will encourage girls to be promiscuous. It turns out I did not do my homework and that, as we all have come to expect, this absurd viewpoint is all over America, too.
The notion that kids are not having sex because of the specter of HPV is just stupid. There’s absolutely no evidence for it. Hey, I have an idea! Let’s stop developing antibiotics because they can be used to cure chlamydia! It doesn’t matter that antibiotics cure other infections and save lives—if we have them PEOPLE WILL HAVE SEX WHEN WE DON’T WANT THEM TO! And Jesus doesn’t like that.
I just don’t get why the Religious Right thinks it can shove its viewpoint down the throats of all Americans, especially when people’s lives are at stake. I am so sick of having to live in fear of these people, of the specter that somehow the little progress that has been made for civil rights for LGBT people and for women’s sexual health will be snatched away in the name of a false Jesus.
Again, this does not bode well for the emergence of vaccines for other sexually-transmitted diseases, notably HIV. There will be an outcry from these people when such a vaccine is developed, and it will be a sad day for all of us. I wonder why we don’t head this off at the pass and start asking these bad people now if they are going to oppose a vaccine when it finally arrives.
Here’s something odd: a very famous Australian scientist, Ian Frazer, has apparently come up with a vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the culprit behind genital warts, plain-old warts, and most cervical cancer in women and anal cancer in gay men. The vaccine has proven to be 100% effective in preventing infection and very safe.
Here’s the shocking thing (and it’s NOT that this isn’t being spouted by Tom DeLay or Pat Robertson, yet): some Australian senators have
called for a “social debate” on whether it should be given to girls on a widespread basis for fear that it would promote promiscuity.
No joke. This is just so stupid I can’t even wrap my head around it.
This does not bode well for the emergence of an HIV vaccine, or any new vaccine, for that matter. The logical conclusion of this idiot’s argument is that any disease that acts as a deterrent to any type of sex he does not agree with should be allowed to hang around and kill people.
“Human suffering? It’s teenage sex that we have to stop!”
“Well, it’s nice that we have an HIV vaccine, but it might encourage kids to have more sex, so we shouldn’t give it to them. Having premarital sex is a fate much worse than death.”
“Well, I was going to give Susie the vaccine, but then I thought it would make her into a little ho, so I refrained. Now she’s got cervical cancer, and she deserves exactly what she’s got!”
So apparently Ford has dropped its advertising from LGBT publications after threat of a boycott from the deceptively-named American Family Association. Ford is claiming that “it’s purely for economic reasons,” but I have a hard time believing that. Something tells me that white trash Bible-thumpers from Mississippi aren’t buying nearly as many Land Rovers and Jaguars as LGBT’s are (speaking of which, I think it’s a good idea for the LGBT community to take back the word “family” from the hate-mongers and use it to represent our community).
And thus my letter:
Dear Ford Motor Company:
I have been considering the purchase of a new car from you for several months now. The Escape Hybrid is a pretty nice machine, and it offers basically everything I have been looking for in an automobile.
However, I won’t be buying one. Or any other Ford vehicle, for that matter.
I am extremely displeased with your bowing to the pressure of the American Family Association and the rest of the extreme Radical Right’s demands about not advertising in gay publications. While I can’t back up this assertion with fact, I would bet that the percentage of gay people buying Land Rovers and Jaguars is a lot higher than the percentage of Mississipian Radical Right people. Since I have many friends who own (but who will undoubtedly soon be getting rid of) Jaguars and Land Rovers, I think you may find that caving to the demands of the Hate Lobby will cost Ford a lot more in lost business than standing up for what is right.
But economic reasons aside, I find it morally reprehensible that your company has decided that the politics of hate has generated enough fear in you to bend your will. This country, and your company, are made up of a wide range of people from all walks of life, and that diversity is necessary for a healthy society and for a successful company. Kowtowing to hate is disrespectful to your LGBT employees, shareholders, and to humanity in general.
It is very sad that you will bow to the pressure of those who espouse hateful policies instead of leading by example and telling these groups that their views are not acceptable in civilized society.
You may think you have avoided a boycott, but I think you have instead created a much worse one.
Sincerely,
Nick Hodulik
The Kansas state school board voted to teach Intelligent Design. The odd thing about Intelligent Design is that it is inherently a contradiction — if there really is an Intelligent Designer, how do people stupid enough to come up with Intelligent Design in the first place ever come to exist?
I wrote to some of the directors who voted for it. You can too! Tell them what morons they are: Kansas State Department of Education
Hey Steve and John-
Thanks for voting in the New Dark Ages! Now Kansas will be even more backwater than it is currently, and the students of Kansas have you guys to thank! Great job!In christ,
Nick
You go, girl. Smack those propagandist bitches up. Yeah, I know it’s a canned response. What matters is that she is on it.
Dear Mr. Hodulik:
Thank you for contacting me to request my support for legislation now pending in the U.S. Senate.
I hope you will be happy to know that because I share your support for this measure, I have signed on as a cosponsor.
Because California is such a large and diverse state, it is especially important to know the concerns of my constituents. Please be assured that your opinions have been recorded, and that I will certainly do all I can to move this issue forward in the coming months.
For additional information about my activities in the U.S. Senate, please visit my website, http://boxer.senate.gov. From this site, you can access statements and press releases that I have issued about current events and pending legislation, request copies of legislation and government reports, and receive detailed information about the many services that I am privileged to provide for my constituents. You may also wish to visit http://thomas.loc.gov to track current and past legislation.
Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
The Bush Administration is finally getting theirs.
The press seems to have their backbone again and we now have ample and obvious evidence that the Bush Administration not only lied to justify the war in Iraq, but that it willfully broke the law in doing so. Rove is probably going to be indicted. Libby has already been indicted.
Why has this taken two years to figure out? Why do we have an independent prosecutor in place to find out what a simple question from the man in charge could have answered? Why didn’t the President just call in his staff and say, “Okay, people, who did this?”
He never did that because he has known all along.
The list goes on. Fill in some more things, if you’d like.
I honestly try to see the good in everybody, but I have a hard time doing it with this man. I fail to see one truly good thing he has done for me personally or for anybody else except the rich and powerful. He lies through his teeth and people die as a result. All I see is evil. I don’t mean meanness or spitefulness or anything weak like that — I mean real evil, real wrongdoing done by choice and scheme.
George Bush is just a very bad man.
This is so dumb. I can’t believe how dumb it is. Rocco over at I Always Say Stupid Shit has rightly pointed out that this gay reality TV pilot is just about as stupid and stereotypical as could possibly be. The host is kind of hot but simultaneously needs to never open his mouth and even more so should never appear on camera or in any position of pseudo-authority. I hope his bedside manner is better than his cameraside manner. Granted, it’s not entirely his fault: the writers blow.
Ugh.
I write my elected representatives all the time and have decided to start posting my letters to them. I urge you to do the same. Feel free to copy my letters in their entirety and send them to your elected representatives. Their contact info can be found here. For Californians, Barbara Boxer is here and Diane Feinstein is here.
Dear Senator Boxer/Feinstein:
A September 30 Government Accountability Office report makes it clear that the Bush administration violated federal law by using taxpayer funds to create “covert propaganda.” This is not the first time that the GAO found the administration in violation of the publicity and propaganda prohibition.
Previous GAO investigations found other instances where the White House broke federal law prohibiting the use of “fake news.” A separate report by members of the House Committee on Government Reform found that the administration has set aside a quarter billion in taxpayer dollars for similar publicity campaigns.
These reports suggest that the executive branch is siphoning taxpayer money to covertly manipulate the Fourth Estate. It’s our money. We have a right to know how it’s being used.
Perhaps more importantly, I ask that you support The Truth in Broadcasting Act (S 967) in its original incarnation. Businesses that produce covert propaganda for our government have managed to get members of the Senate to alter the language in the original bill to favor not disclosing the source of every single “fake news” video news release (VNR) that they produce.
The original bill mandated that companies that produce VNR’s must put clear notification across the entire VNR that the “news” was actually cooked by the government, and that this notification cannot be removed. The VNR industry has managed to change the language of the bill so that only a short notification of being “cooked” would be mandated. Since many cash-strapped newsrooms use only short clips from the VNR’s, the American people are oftentimes not notified that they are being fed covert propaganda. The VNR industry would obviously like it to stay that way.
This cannot be allowed to happen. The American People should unequivocally know whether or not the “news” that they are watching is real or is being fed to them by the government. How can we have a Free Press when the government is doing its own reporting on itself?
Please support the original spirit of the bill and use your influence to urge other Senators to do so as well.
Sincerely,
Nick Hodulik
This all has to do with these obnoxious PR companies that produce propaganda for our government and send out the “video news releases” to television stations. The stations often show the VNR’s unedited and with no indication that the release is government propaganda. More info can be found here on PRWatch.
Without being glib, this is precisely what Hitler did during WWII, except that by that point the government owned all of the media outlets, as well. Germany didn’t have a so-called “Free Press” and thus no expectation of truth from their news. Even in the era of Fox/Faux News I still expect to know when our government is using our own tax dollars to lie to us through the media. The Truth in Broadcasting Act requires it.
Please write your elected reps today.
