Last minute thoughts on tomorrow’s US (2012) election

November 5, 2012 — xanthippa

Putin, Chavez and Castro all endorse Obama for President in the US 2012 election….

Is there a better reason not to vote for him?

I don’t like Romney – he seems like a psychopath to me…and his belief in ‘magic underwear’ is just icing on the cake.

Obama’s religious beliefs are even more batshit-crazy than Romney’s.  Remember, he himself says that it was the racist screechings preachings of Jeremiah Wright that converted him to Christianity – and, from his college days, he has worn a ring that affirms his faith in one God.  He’s even used it as his wedding ring – even though he wore it for at least a decade before he got married…

I guess in a country where, in many places, it is still illegal for reasonable people (who don’t believe in a magical sky-daddy) to run for public office, you’re bound to end up with candidates who all hold batshit-crazy magical views.

There is a third choice….

Not a great third choice, but it does exist!

And while I don’t know Gary Johnson’s religious ideas (I would probably not like them – as per above), and I think his foreign policy is downright insane, I do like what he has accomplished to reduce the size of government while he was the governor of New Mexico.

It’s not much, but it’s something…

Yes, he has no chance to win – which makes casting a vote for him count to send a message of dissatisfaction with the two main parties.  It’s a fundamentally different way of being heard.  But, it is a valid way of being heard – and a way to make your vote count.

He wants to repeal the Patriot Act.

He wants to get rid of the insane Drug Wars.

He wants to get rid of Income Tax in favour of one single consumption tax.

He wants to create jobs by reducing corporate tax rates – to zero.

He wants balanced budgets – now!

Not much, perhaps, but better than voting for one of the two ‘status quo’ candidates and then being surprised things do not change.

Because, if a statistically significant percentage of ‘undeclared’ voters support these policies, the two main parties will have to consider them in the future in order to get sufficient votes to win.

Hard to believe, perhaps, but sometimes, voting for ‘the other’ candidate will have a greaer political impact than voting for a candidate from one of the two legacy parties.

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Remember, remember, the 5th of November…

November 5, 2012 — xanthippa

F***king Guy Fawkes day!

(OK – I need to explain the profanity….it’s a reference to an Ed McBain detective story where a transplanted Brit became a New York cop and riles on and on about the ‘f***king Guy Fawkes’.  Now, my hubby and I cannot say ‘Guy Fawkes’ without the preceding expletive…)

Well, since the Anonymous hactivists have adopted the movie ‘Guy Fawkes’ mask as their method of anonymization, ***** Guy Fawkes day has, traditionally, been a special day for them.  A day they call people to action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lB3wHORlehk

Here, in Canada, the government has banned masks from all protests – so that technology with facial recognition may be used to identify even peaceful protesters…

Why?

You should be asking not just yourself, but also your government representatives!

My advice?  If you plan to attend a demonstration of any kind, get a niqab or a burqa:  our governments may feel free to strip the rights away from non-favoured groups, but are too squeamish to strip those same rights away from militant Islamists.  Rather than bitching about it, we ought to use it!

And, you should not be willing to submit to the creep of ever-increasing surveillance.

Yes, we cannot avoid some of it – it has already become extremely pervasive in our society.

But it does not mean that we should not fight back against the creep!

And, creeping it is….

For example, a judge in the US has just ruled that the police do not need a warrant to install surveillance equipment to monitor your private property – even if it is fenced off and ‘no trespassing’ signs are posted all over the place.

And while we all know the tracking capabilities of smart phones and GPS units in vehicles (I’ve had mine physically unplugged, but the newer ones are being installed into the starter, so that the vehicle will not function if the GPS tracking has been disabled), did you know that seemingly innocuous items like asthma inhalers, will soon collect the data on everywhere you’ve been and report it to your MD or any government authority that demands the data?

Because if the data exists, somewhere, somehow, all kinds of government agencies can demand it.  It will always be turned over to them if they get a warrant, but it will also ‘usually’ be turned over to them by the companies (or individuals) who hold the info – and who fear that if they do not co-operate with ‘the authorities’, they will be targeted and put out of business through ‘targeted regulations enforcement’.

Don’t think this is happening?

Think of Buckey-balls!!!

Privacy is quickly becoming a thing of the past – governments know more and more about all aspects of our lives.

Don’t like it?

There is nowhere left to run…

Sure, you can do the basic things, like avoid the ‘points’ cards (they are simple tools of profiling and your profile is being sold for profit), pay cash, avoid using anything with a GPS in it, and so on.

Anonymous is taking it a step further – they actively urged everyone to use the occasion of F***cking Guy Fawkes Day to hack the organizations most active in conducting electronic surveillance and profiling.

So, how did it go?

There were protests in front of the British Parliament.

A couple of thousand Anonymous supporters held a demonstration in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Finance Minister (Canada) Jim Flaherty’s personal website was hacked – and downed for several hours.

NBC and Lady Gaga were also hacked.

Zynga and Facebook were bitched at.

Various bits of hacked data, including VMware source code, were publicly posted.

The most evil PayPal was hacked, as well as Symantec and even the Auzzzie government…

If you have a PayPal account (shame on you), you might want to consider changing your password, like, now – as there are reports PayPal account passwords were hacked and leaked.

TrapWire and INDECT were also hacked.

ZDNet has an excellent roundup – including updates and clarifications. (via TechEYE)

Sounds like a lot of hactivists were busy little beavers today!

 

 

 

 

 

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Thunderf00t: The Doomsday Explosive!

November 3, 2012 — xanthippa
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The real-life effects of government-controlled pricing

November 3, 2012 — xanthippa
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The Free Thinking Film Festival starts tonight!

November 1, 2012 — xanthippa

For all of you in the Ottawa area, the thied annual Free Thinking Film Festiva starts tonight – and, as an added bonus, one of my paintings (Aisha) is going to be auctioned off as part of the festivities!

From the organizers:

Tonight…..

Losing Our Sons/Muslim Brotherhood in Canada!

November 1, 2012
The 3rd Annual Free Thinking Film Festival 2012 Starts Tonight!

We’ve got an incredible first evening planned for the Festival. Tickets will be available at the door, so please make it to the Library & Archives Canada tonight!

Losing Our Sons
November 1st, 2012, 7 PM
Library & Archives Canada
395 Wellington

Admission: $20 or with Festival Pass (you can buy an individual ticket or a Festival Pass at the door). Private reception to follow the Q&A with Marc Lebuis.

Right after the film, please join us for an exclusive presentation by Marc Lebuis – the proprietor of Le Point De Bascule Canada blog – on the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada.

Point de bascule, or the tipping point, is a Montreal-based French language webmagazine. It is dedicated to explore and expose Islamist activities in our midst, and I invite everybody to check out his site.

Losing Our Sons Trailer HD
Losing Our Sons Trailer HD

A searing true story from America’s heartland, Losing Our Sons tells of two American families whose lives intersected through a shattering act of violence. Melvin Bledsoe, a small business owner in Memphis, watched with pride as his son Carlos went to Tennessee State University in Nashville to better his life through education. Daris Long, an ex-Marine, felt honored that his son, Andy, chose to follow in his footsteps by joining the military. But when Carlos Bledsoe murdered Andy Long in Little Rock, Arkansas, both fathers are forced to confront a new kind of American nightmare. As Melvin traced the trail that led Carlos from Nashville to Yemen and then to Little Rock, Daris confronted an American government that seems to be in denial about what happened to his son. This powerful documentary provides a moment of clarity for people who care about their families and their country’s future.

“Heartbreaking and infuriating … an anguished wake-up call.”
Jeff Jacoby, Columnist, Boston Globe

“Riveting, powerful, educational and a must see for every American”
Brigitte Gabriel, Founder President of ACT! For America

*************************************************
We made the Ottawa Citizen!

Click here to read their preview of the Festival.

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Get set for one of the most important Canadian Premieres in a long time. Death By China will be our feature presentation on Friday night at the 3rd Annual Free Thinking Film Festival 2012.

Death by China Documentary Film – Official Trailer
Death by China Documentary Film – Official Trailer
Death By China
November 2nd, 2012, 7 PM
Library & Archives Canada
395 Wellington

Speaker: Greg Autry, co-author of “Death By China”. Private reception to follow Q&A.

Admission: $20 or with Festival Pass. Tickets available online (see our website) or at the door.

Death by China is a new film based on the book by Peter Navarro and Greg Autry which challenges the dominant paradigm of a “Chinese Miracle” – the one featuring a modernizing, progressive Chinese state heading toward political reform and driving global economic growth with its new found embrace of capitalism and freedom. Tearing this delusion away, Death by China documents the myriad ways that a powerful, wealthy, and corrupt Chinese Communist Party emboldened by a growing nationalistic frenzy is becoming the biggest threat to global peace, prosperity, and health since Nazi Germany.

“A truly life-changing, mouth-dropping documentary film…Peter Navarro’s ‘Death by China’ grabs you by the throat and never lets go.”
-Francesca McCaffery, Blackbook Magazine

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We’ve added Atlas Shrugged, Part One!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Room 156
3:00 PM

Atlas Shrugged, Part One

Watch the Trailer
97 minutes, Strike Productions, 2011

Ayn Rand’s timeless novel of rational self-interest comes to life for a new millennium.”. The year is 2016, and America is on the verge of economic disaster. The greatest citizens are being targeted, and dark forces are working to bring about America’s final days. Our only hope for salvation lies with Dagny Taggart and Henry Rearden, rugged individualists whose bold ideas may have the power to spark a revolution and reclaim to the American Dream.

3rd Annual Free Thinking Film Festival!!!

We’ve got an amazing Festival this year!

The Festival will feature four major events: On November 1st, the Festival will open with “Losing Our Sons”, a poignant tale of two fathers who have lost their sons – one through terrorism, and one through indoctrination. On November 2nd, the Festival features the Canadian premiere of “Death by China”, a film about the increasingly destructive economic trade practices of a rapidly rising China with author Greg Autry in attendance. On Saturday, November 3rd, Producer Michael King will be on hand to introduce the film, “The Rescuers” about diplomats who saved Jews during the Holocaust, and the Festival will end with a tribute to Raoul Wallenberg – a celebration of his 100th birthday in association with B’nai Brith Canada.

Other films include “The Invisible Men,” about the plight of gay Palestinians; “Windfall,” about the pitfalls of wind power; “Freedom’s Fury,” a look at the “blood in the water” water polo match between the Soviet Union and Hungary at the Olympics in 1956; “Their Eyes Were Dry,” a film about the massacre of teenagers in Ma’alot in Israel by Palestinian terrorists in 1974; “Occupy Unmasked,” a hard look at the Occupy movement; “21 Brothers,” a Canadian film about World War I; “The Red Chapel,” a comedy that exposes North Korea’s totalitarian system; “Putin’s Kiss”, a documentary on the brutality of the Putin regime; “Winston Churchill: Walking With Destiny,” examines why Winston Churchill’s legacy continues to be relevant in the 21st Century; “Why Is It Hate?,” Martin Gladstone’s film on why Queers Against Israeli Apartheid bring a message of hate to Toronto’s Gay Pride; and many, many other films.

In addition, four authors will be in Ottawa to launch their books. Bruce Bawer, the acclaimed American author, will read from his new book, “The Victims Revolution: The Rise of Identity Studies and the Closing of the Liberal Mind;” Pierre Desrochers will present on two of his books: “The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-mile Diet”, and “The False Crises of Rachel Carson: Silent Spring at 50”; Arpad Szoczi will present his book, “Timisoara – The Real Story Behind the Romanian Revolution,” and Tuvia Tenenbom will be here to talk about his book, “I Sleep In Hitler’s Room.”

Trailer – 3rd Annual Free Thinking Film Society 2012
Trailer – 3rd Annual Free Thinking Film Society 2012

The complete list of events can be seen at http://www.freethinkingfilmfest.ca

Festival passes are available for $75 and can be purchased either online or at the following retailers – Compact Music (785 Bank, 190 Bank), Collected Works (1242 Wellington), and Ottawa Festivals (47 William Street). Day passes will also be available for sale.

Some Amazing Speakers Coming to Ottawa for the Festival!

Martin Gladstone, Producer of “Why Is It Hate”, a documentary about how Queers Against Israeli Apartheid bring a message of hate to Toronto Gay Pride.

Greg Autry, Author of the book, “Death By China” will be here to talk about his new documentary of the same name. CANADIAN PREMIERE.

Michael King, Producer of the film “The Rescuers” in which historian Martin Gilbert teams up with a survivor of the Rwandan genocide to interview diplomats who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Pierre Desrochers, Professor at the University of Toronto, will be presenting on his two new books: “The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000 mile Diet” and “Silent Spring at 60: The False Crises of Rachel Carson”.

Bruce Bawer, acclaimed American Author, will be in Ottawa to launch his new book: “The Victim’s Revolution: The Rise of Identity Politics and the Closing of the Liberal Mind.”

David Matas, attorney for the B’nai Brith and Human Rights Activist, will be presenting the latest research on the fate of diplomat Raoul Wallenberg – the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust in Hungary.

Clayton Garrett, Producer of 21 Brothers, a Canadian film about life in the trenches during WW1. Shot in Kingston, Ontario.

Marc Lebuis, author of the website pointdebasculecanada.ca will be in Ottawa to present on the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada.

Tuvia Tenenbom will be here to present his book, “I Sleep in Hitler’s Room.”

Arpad Szoszi will be here to discuss his new book on the Romanian Revolution.

Free Mobile Applications!

By the way, we now have an Android application and an iPhone application. Just click here to download our Android application (it’s free).

You can click here to get our free iPhone application.

Sincerely,

Frederick Litwin
Free Thinking Film Society

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