« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 29, 2006
Create an e-annoyance, go to jail
By Declan McCullagh
SOURCE: New.com (C-NET)
Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.
| It's illegal to annoy
A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity. Here's the relevant language. "Whoever...utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet... without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person...who receives the communications...shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." | It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess. This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison. "The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else." Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy." |
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 02:18 PM
January 28, 2006
Churches Terrified About Teenage Interest in Occult
A shocking new study finds that 73 percent of American teens are experimenting with the occult.
The results prove what Christian evangelicals have long feared: Today's kids have hardly any interest in stodgy follow-the-rules Christianity because they're too busy communicating with the dead, summoning demons and casting spells.
Based on nationwide surveys of more than 4,000 kids, Teens and the Supernatural was released this week by the Barna Group, a research firm for fundamentalist Christian churches.
"Teenagers relish experiences and the supernatural world provides fertile ground for their explorations," the Barna Group report says. "In fact, three-quarters of America’s youth have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity, beyond mere media exposure or horoscope usage."
Today's kids aren't just fascinated by the supernatural -- they're increasingly in direct contact with it.
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:11 PM
January 27, 2006
Indigenous Traditions And Modern Paganism
by mystiq
January 22, 2006
SOURCE: WitchVox
 |
However, this approach is intrinsically flawed, and the issues involved with these flaws have been largely ignored and are silently expanding. These issues affect two main groups: the indigenous cultures being plundered, and the Neo-Pagans who do the plundering.
There has been much discussion, especially recently, regarding certain approaches to Neo-Paganism that are often deemed “fluffy” and inappropriate. The major of these approaches is eclecticism, which is essentially taking, adapting, and amalgamating various beliefs, traditions, practices, deities, mythologies, concepts, etc. from various cultures. As with all things, the extent and structure of this process varies, but the underlying principle is the same: that no spiritual tradition is exclusively “owned” by anybody, and therefore all are there to be utilised by anyone who so desires.
Also, many Neo-Pagans, especially “Neo-Wiccans” (or Eclectic Wiccans), have a view of Divinity that sees all different Deities as merely different interpretations or facets of a greater whole or source, and therefore all Deities and hence spiritual traditions are essentially the same (or at least come from the same source). This is often represented with metaphors such as “many facets of the crystal” or “many faces (personalities/archetypes) of the God/dess”.
While I am not saying that there is no value to this approach in general, in the context of a Nature religion it does lose its validity and value. Nature religions - a group of religions of which many indigenous traditions are a part - are religions based on Nature and the Sacred Land. Almost all these indigenous traditions that we supposedly seek to emulate were/are Nature religions - they saw the Divine embodied in Nature, Nature was/is Sacred, and therefore all their traditions, beliefs, and mythologies were intrinsically linked to the Land upon which they dwelt, and therefore could be separated neither from the Land nor each other.
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 10:28 PM
Newly Declassified Document Indicates Neo-Con Regime's Use of Propaganda in the Media
US plans to 'fight the net' revealed
By Adam Brookes
SOURCE: BBC News
A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.
Internet cafe in Iraq
The document says information is "critical to military success"
Bloggers beware.
As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer.
From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war.
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 10:10 PM
January 25, 2006
Desperate Times Call For Drastic Measures
Student calls for use of landmines to secure borders
By JOHN SOSBE
The Georgetonian
There has been a gradual invasion of our country for many years, and it is time we began to defend against it more effectively. I am of course talking about the problem of defending the Mexican border from illegal immigrants. While I am sure it will be criticized by many as harsh, or even inhumane, I advocate the use of landmines as a deterrent to illegal immigrants. I would like to think that it is not necessary to resort to such an extreme measure, but I warn you that it is indeed necessary.
By placing large fields of landmines, we could deter many illegals from trying to enter the country. This would free border patrol agents of patrolling long empty stretches of border, and funnel illegals to chokepoints where they are more likely to be captured. This would be more cost effective and successful than hiring more border guards.
Posted by andrewanissi at 09:05 AM
January 20, 2006
New York Sucks
And it's your fault.
by Krestia Degeorge
SOURCE: Rochester City News
January 18, 2005
Albany's a wreck.
But you knew that already. You've read countless articles and editorials about late state budgets, high tax rates, and other problems.
What you may not have read, though, is a comprehensive description of all those problems --- and why you should care about them --- all in one place.
That's where a recently released book comes in. "The Politics of Decline," written by the Gannett News Service's Albany bureau chief, Jay Gallagher, fills that big-picture vacuum.
There are probably few journalists as qualified to write such a book as Gallagher, who's been covering statehouse news and politics for more than two decades.
"There's no question that he's one of the elder statesmen of the capitol press corps," says Michael Cooper, Albany bureau chief for the New York Times. At press conferences, Gallagher's often first out of the box with tough questions, says Cooper, and among reporters he's known equally for his wisdom and common sense. (He's also known among capitol reporters for doing a mean Eliot Spitzer impression at correspondents' banquets.)
The book had its genesis when Gallagher noticed two simultaneous trends: the dysfunction in government --- which he'd witnessed ever since arriving in Albany --- was steadily growing worse, even as the state's economy did the same.
For the full article, click HERE
Posted by andrewanissi at 08:19 AM
January 09, 2006
Iran a Victim of CIA Entrapment?
by James Risen
Source:
The Guardian
January 5, 2006
Click HERE for full article.
George Bush insists that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. So why, six years ago, did the CIA give the Iranians blueprints to build a bomb?
In an extract from his explosive new book, New York Times reporter James Risen reveals the bungles and miscalculations that led to a spectacular intelligence fiasco.
She had probably done this a dozen times before. Modern digital technology had made clandestine communications with overseas agents seem routine. Back in the cold war, contacting a secret agent in Moscow or Beijing was a dangerous, labour-intensive process that could take days or even weeks. But by 2004, it was possible to send high-speed, encrypted messages directly and instantaneously from CIA headquarters to agents in the field who were equipped with small, covert personal communications devices. So the officer at CIA headquarters assigned to handle communications with the agency's spies in Iran probably didn't think twice when she began her latest download. With a few simple commands, she sent a secret data flow to one of the Iranian agents in the CIA's spy network. Just as she had done so many times before.
Click HERE for full article.
Posted by andrewanissi at 08:38 AM
January 02, 2006
Load and Run High-tech Paganism
Digital Polytheism
By Timothy Leary and Eric Gullichsen
We place no reliance
On virgin or pigeon;
Our Method is Science,
Our Aim is Religion.
Aleister Crowley, from the journal "Equinox"
People jacked in so they could hustle. Put the trodes on and they were out there, all the data in the world stacked up like one big neon city, so you could cruise around and have a grip on it, visually anyway, because if you didn't, it was too complicated, trying to find your way to a particular piece of data you needed. Iconics, Gentry called that.
William Gibson, Mona Lisa Overdrive
Information is more basic than matter and energy.
Atoms, electrons, quarks consist of bits --
Binary units of information
Like those processed in computer software
And in the brain.
The behavior of these bits, and thus of the universe,
Is governed by a single programming rule.
Edward Fredkin
A UNIVERSE OF BITS AND BYTES
Major historical accomplishments of the 20th century included the personalization and popularization of Quantum Physics, an acceptance of self-reference and circular causality in systems of mathematics and psychology, and the resulting development of cybernetic society.
Continue reading "Load and Run High-tech Paganism"
Posted by andrewanissi at 01:09 PM