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Obama to Starship: You didn’t build that city, somebody else made that happen
July 21, 2012 — xanthippaGenocide in Sudan: Call for Action, Cry for Change
July 21, 2012 — xanthippaWhat is happening is Sudan is horrible.
But, what can we do?
Aid workers there get kidnapped – because the method the Sudanese government uses to kill people is to drive them into refugee camps and then deny aid workers access: people simply starve. It’s beyond inhuman…
And the slave-trade there is being revived…
Exactly when did Jerusalem stop being Israel’s capital?
July 20, 2012 — xanthippaSo, what is the capital of Israel?
According to the UK‘s Guardian, it is Tel Aviv.
According to the BBC, while East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, Israel does not have a capital at all! (H/T: BCF)
And the US State Department sort of splits the difference between the two:
So, exactly when did Jerusalem stop being Israel’s capital? (Or, at least, West Jerusalem – if you want to avoid internal inconsistency within the BBC narrative…)
UPDATE: this video seems like it ought to be part of this post:
Omar Khadr protests – 18th of July, 2012
July 18, 2012 — xanthippaThis post will continue to be updated as information comes in – newest on top.
And here is a comment received at my site about this from someone who, like I, is an immigrant into Canada and wants to preserve the Canada we came to:
‘I was an immigrant to Canada and I proudly stood up at my citizenship ceremony and swore allegiance to Canada, I chose Canada for the freedoms and opportunities. I find it irrehensible for a person born in Canada who goes overseas to fight against Canada and Canadian values; this is tatamount to treason and Mr Khadr should face the full extent of the law; The entire khadr family gave up their right to be called Canadian.If Minister Toews is forced to accept Khadr, then He (Khadr) should be imprisoned for life on the crime of treason.
Keep up the good work and fight to keep Khadr out, even expand the campaign to the rest of his family.’
Excellent coverage of the Toronto event – with pictures – by BlogWrath.
More from BlazingCatfur, including re-printing of a nasty letter condemning the protests – and video of Shobie Kapoor’s speech.
Ezra’s speech over at BCF.
A report from the Edmonton Sun.
BlazingCatFur reports having returned from the event – and that the Toronto speakers were excellent. He even has one photo up.
Free Saudi Liberals
July 18, 2012 — xanthippaUPDATED on 9th of January, 2015
Raif Badawi had been sentenced to flogging with 1 000 lashes and 5 years in jail. For more info, click here.
The website is in Arabic, but since it is easy to get translated (not well, but understandably), please, feel free to visit the site ‘Free Saudi Liberals’.
According to Human Rights Watch, that website’s creator Ra’if Badawi has been arrested and charged under the cyber-crimes law for having created and operated this website. Apparently, providing a forum where people can discuss matters of concern ‘infringes on religious values’.
He is also criminally charged with ‘not obeying his father’…
From Reuters:
‘Court documents show the evidence against Badawi includes a post on the website that asks, “is God unjust?”, sarcastic remarks about the Saudi religious police and a senior scholar, and a post that asks, “why is Saudi’s Grand Mufti blind?”‘
Online political forums are important to society.
And, it is not only in Saudi Arabia that online forums are targeted by censors. Right here, in Canada, the methods may be civil rather than criminal law, but, the impulse to censor is the same. At least here, we can help people who are unfairly targeted raise the funds for their defense.
Aerographite: lightest material
July 18, 2012 — xanthippa‘A network of porous carbon tubes that is three-dimensionally interwoven at the nano and micro level is the lightest material in the world. The substance weighs just 0.2 milligrams per cubic centimeter. It is 75 times lighter than Styrofoam.
Scientists of Kiel University (KU) and Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) named their joint creation aerographite. The researchers describe aerographite as “jet black, remains stable, is electrically conductive, ductile and non-transparent.” ‘
The Dependency Agenda
July 18, 2012 — xanthippaOnce, years ago, I saw an interview with an anti-poverty activist. She said it was a disgrace that people were living in poverty and that the government must stop it right away.
When asked how she defined ‘living in poverty’, she quickly replied it was the people in the lowest 15% income bracket.
She honestly did not see the problem…
What are the 10 most frightening words in the English language?
“We are from the government – we are here to help!”
100% ‘fair use’ political ad censored by DMCA
July 17, 2012 — xanthippaThis is a perfect illustration of how the unbalanced copyright laws are abusive.
The political ad of Obama singing the song ‘Let’s Stay Together’ while showing images of him with rich lobbyists is as textbook ‘fair use’ as there is. Yet, the song rightsholder, BMG, had it yanked off the interwebitudes:
‘A YouTube video produced by the Romney for President campaign got hit by a takedown request on Monday, highlighting the challenges that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act can pose for free speech.
…
Yet the “notice and takedown” process established by the DMCA and apparently utilized by BMG in this case doesn’t give the Romney campaign much recourse. It can file a counter notice stating that it believes its clip to be fair use, but YouTube is required to wait a minimum of 10 days before putting the video back up. In a campaign where the news cycle is measured in hours, 10 days is an eternity.’
Because sometimes, delaying a message is just as good as stopping it…
Another dimension of the problem is that individuals unfairly censored under the current policies are penalized for the other side’s failure – without any accessible or effective recourse or remedy readily available. They are, in a very real sense, guilty until proven innocent – at their own cost and by their own effort.
This is so contrary to our common law tradition I don’t know where to begin!
And it’s only going to get worse – unless we shift our enforcement focus from ‘fair dealing’ to ‘fair ‘use’ (as, hopefully, seems to be happening up here, in Canada).
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