[Quote:]

Australian schools may have to pay a copyright fee every time a student is told to look at the web, if a plan from the national collecting society is successful. The Copyright Agency pays Australian authors for the photocopying that takes place on schools by randomly sampling the schools annually, collecting $31 million in fees and dispersing them to authors.

Now they say that they deserve to collect for the use of the Web. Despite the fact that there’s an implied license to read Web pages that goes along with publishing them (who puts up a web-page without expecting it to be read?) and despite the fact that the vast majority of pages online weren’t created by Australians, and despite the fact that the vast majority of pages created by Australians weren’t created by professional authors, the agency proposes that it should be able to collect a tax on behalf of all those authors in the world in order to line the pockets of its few lucky members.This is a way to transfer Australia’s tax dollars from its education system to its copyright sector. Australia already has an arts council that gives money directly to artists — if it wants to give them more money, it should get a bigger budget and do so, not trump up some kind of ridiculous Internet tax that could cost schools their Internet connections:

Negotiations between the Ministerial Council on Education Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, representing the schools, and the agency have broken down over plans to change the scheme to include a question in the survey on whether teachers direct students to use the internet.

“If it turned out we’d have to pay them, we’d turn the internet off in schools,” the council’s national copyright director Delia Browne said.

“We couldn’t afford it; it would not be sustainable. How on earth are we going to deliver education in the 21st century? How are taxpayers going to afford this.”

Canada’s doomed Bill C-60 had a proposal for this, too. Luckily for Canada, they kicked out Sam Bulte, the Hollywood-bought lawmaker who had led the charge for C-60.

Link

[Quote:]

Secure Computing offered us a devil’s bargain: if we’d change the URLs of images with “nudity” (which, they assured us, included photos of Michaelangelo’s David) to something they could detect and block, they’d let the rest of the world see us again. That guy in the UAE who was worried he’d be imprisoned for trying to read BoingBoing would be OK again.

We considered their offer, and decided not to do it. What happens when the next censorware company comes along with another editorial process they want us to engage in to help them censor the site?
More importantly: why should we let a company that helps corrupt dictatorships oppress their citizen dictate morality to us?
So instead we’ve decided to help put Secure Computing out of business. We’re doing this in three ways:

• First, we’re publishing a guide to evading the SmartFilter censorware. There are hundreds of ways to defeat these censorware apps, and we’re going to catalog as many of them as possible.
  Link to “BoingBoing’s Guide To Evading Censorware.”
• Next, we’re compiling a list of SmartFilter’s dumb classifications. Send us your misclassified SmartFilter sites so we can add them to the list.
• Finally, we’re producing a guide to convincing your employer to ditch SmartFilter. It consists of parts one and two above: a list of bad SmartFilter classifications and a list of ways that SmartFilter can be shredded like wet kleenex. Why spend money on bad technology that doesn’t work?

Vandaag viel eindelijk de kandidatenlijst in de bus. Laten we’s kijken wat er te kiezen valt.

Op lijst 1, de huidige grootste partij, “Onafhankelijk Rijswijk” met acht zetels. Dat had net zo goed Leefbaar Rijswijk kunnen heten, aangezien de lijsttrekker, Dick Jense, in de tweede kamer heeft gezeten voor LN. Alleen daarom al voor mij een afvaller.

Er is nog een lokale partij, “Gemeentebelangen Rijswijk met momenteel 4 zetels. Begonnen als eenvrouwfraktie (al laat ze op de website nadrukkelijk achterwege te vermelden bij welke partij ze afgesplitst is, en m’n google-fu laat me even in de steek), met een programma dat begint met een onmogelijk onderwerp (behoud van het oude stadhuis – de projectontwikkelaar is inmiddels al aangewezen), is binnen een paar punten op “hondenpoep” beland. Lijkt me weinig diepgang te hebben. Laat maar.

Het CDA heeft zes leden. Ik neem niet eens de moeite op te zoeken of de website van het CDA info heeft over de lokale standpunten, omdat het CDA voor mij een partij is waar ik nooit op zal kunnen stemmen.

De VVDeen programma, dat uitsluitend lijkt te bestaan uit een opsomming van punten die de afgelopen vier jaar bereikt zijn. Kennelijk heeft de VVD geen enkele ambitie om ooit nog iets te doen, en verdient het dus mijn stem niet.

De PVDA heeft (vier leden), als ik de landelijke site zo doorzoek, geen enkel lokaal standpunt. Ze hebben lokaal een lijst-binding aangegaan met D’66, die ik onmogelijk nog serieus kan nemen, en Groenlinks. Deze heeft wel een lokaal programma, maar zo te zien alleen met algemeenheden en platitudes. Het is wel de partij met de meest uitgebreide lijst met “dit zijn wij van plan” aktiepunten in het programma. Helaas niets waar ik me echt in kan vinden.

Misschien moet ik toch ‘s aan emigreren gaan denken…

here…

dank je, Ralph

[Quote:]

It might be said that Senator John Thune went through the revolving door — backward.

As a lobbyist in 2003 and 2004, Mr. Thune earned $220,000 from the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, a small but ambitious company in South Dakota. The railroad hopes to rebuild and rehabilitate 1,300 miles of track, the nation’s largest proposed railroad expansion in more than a century.

Now, as a junior senator from South Dakota, Mr. Thune is working to make that happen, raising questions about whether there should be curbs on lobbyists-turned-lawmakers in the same way that there are on those who take the more traditional route of leaving Capitol Hill for K Street.

Last year, his first in the Senate, Mr. Thune wrote language into a transportation bill expanding the pot of federal loan money for small railroads, enabling his former client to apply for $2.5 billion in government financing for its project. The loan has yet to be approved; Mr. Thune said he was trying to promote economic development in his home state.

Oh dear.

Now the idiots are making international headlines.

mefi has translations of the raps…

[Quote:]

A red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) takes flight while carrying a rodent meal in downtown Washington, DC. According to the National Audubon Society, the red-tailed hawk is the most common and widespread American member of the Buteo genus. Hawks like this hunt for prey in open country or at the edge of a meadow, making this sighting in a dense urban area uncommon.

Krugman (reg req):

So why did this latest case of sloppiness and indifference finally catch the public’s attention? Because this time the administration has become a victim of its own campaign of fearmongering and insinuation. The administration successfully linked Iraq and 9/11 in public perceptions through a campaign of constant insinuation and occasional outright lies. In the process, it also created a state of mind in which all Arabs were lumped together in the camp of evildoers. Osama, Saddam — what’s the difference?

But more to the point, after years of systematically suggesting that Arabs who didn’t attack us are the same as Arabs who did, the administration can’t suddenly turn around and say, “But these are good Arabs.”

Ladies, you better snag this one quick before Pamela sees him.

[Quote:]

The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush’s approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

[..]

For the first time in this poll, most Americans say the president does not care much about people like themselves. Fifty-one percent now think he doesn’t care, compared to 47 percent last fall.

Just 30 percent approve of how Mr. Bush is handling the Iraq war, another all-time low.

By two to one, the poll finds Americans think U.S. efforts to bring stability to Iraq are going badly – the worst assessment yet of progress in Iraq.

Even on fighting terrorism, which has long been a strong suit for Mr. Bush, his ratings dropped lower than ever. Half of Americans say they disapprove of how he’s handling the war on terror, while 43 percent approve.

In a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney’s hunting accident.

You know things aren’t going so hot when the “good news” is that people know Cheney shot a friend in the face…

[Quote:]

Minutes after the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed on Sept. 15, 1963, Tom Self was on the scene taking pictures.

The photographs, published in The Birmingham News, were among hundreds that appeared in print during the civil rights struggle in Alabama. Self, who retired as chief photographer in 1998, remembers many of those images.

He also recalls many not published. One is a picture from inside the Sixteenth Street church moments after explosives blew the face of Jesus Christ from a stained-glass window and killed four little girls.

“I shot a picture of Jesus, and everything was intact except his face; his face was blown out,” Self remembered. “It was an eerie feeling to look up there and see the whole frame of the window and just the face was gone.”

Hundreds of photos from that era were lost, sold, stolen or stored in archives. Some of those pictures appear today for the first time in the newspaper, in an eight-page special section titled “Unseen. Unforgotten.”

The section is the result of research by Alexander Cohn, a 30-year-old former photo intern at The News. In November 2004, Cohn went through an equipment closet at the newspaper in search of a lens and saw a cardboard box full of negatives marked, “Keep. Do Not Sell.”

Check them out here.

[Quote:]

Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week’s bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad’s main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.

Hundreds of unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday — blood-caked men who had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies were sprawled with their hands still bound — and many of them had wound up at the morgue after what their families said was their abduction by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

This was not just an ‘almost civil war’. It was the beginning of Srebrenica style ethnic/religious cleansing.

Ali Mohammed, 6, a victim of a mortar attack recovers in a hospital, in Baghdad,Iraq, Monday, Feb.27, 2006. Four mortar rounds exploded Monday on a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing four and wounding 16, as Sunni Arabs are ready to end their boycott of talks to form a new government if rival Shiites return mosques seized in last week’s sectarian attacks and meet other unspecified demands, a top Sunni figure said Monday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

The US government is now both angry at google for aiding the Chinese government with their censorship and not aiding the US government with
their own censorship.

[Quote:]

Internet usage in the US has flatlined, with a third of the country’s households stubbornly refusing to sign up. And don’t expect any sudden surges of interest – only two per cent of US citizens surveyed by Parks Associates plan to sign up this year.

This leaves 36 per cent of US households without an internet connection at home – and no intention of getting one, either.

More worringly for the get-everyone-connected brigade, only four per cent of this sample cited cost as a reason for continuing to be domestic refuseniks, and only eight per cent said it was because the technology was too difficult to use. 31 per cent said they had a net connection at work, thanks, and so didn’t need one at home, while 39 per cent cited other reasons for not signing up.

[Quote:]

Nederlanders, tjek die laatste foto op de link!

[Quote:]

Wil je weten wat je tegen terrorisme kunt doen? Maak gewoon een magische button die je beschermt tegen hakbars en onbeheerd achtergelaten tassen. Wel je echte adres invullen.

Het wordt pas leuk als je “ik ben niet” als voornaam invult.

[Quote:]

Sark today sought to quell the growing controversy over his decision to grant the MCP control of several major ports throughout the region.

“I believe that this arrangement with the Master Control Program should go forward,” Sark told reporters aboard Solar Sailer One. He emphasized that security would continued to be handled by Tank and Recognizer programs, with the MCP only be in charge of port operations.

But Dumont, guardian of the I/O towers, voiced skepticism. “I could understand ceding authority over ports 21 and 80,” said Dumont. “But port 443? That’s supposed to be secure!”

The public’s reaction to the plan has also been overwhelmingly negative. “No no no,” said a bit upon hearing the news. “No no no no.” Others were more blunt. “Sark should be de-rezzed for even proposing this,” said Ram, a financial program.

Sark, who has repeatedly denied having ties to the MCP, has insisted that the hand-over go through, and says that he will vigorously resist any effort to block it. But programs such as Yori are equally adamant that the deal be scuttled. “My User,” she said, “have we already forgotten the lessons of 1000222846?”

[Quote:]

De woordvoerder van de reizigersvereniging Rover lacht hard als hij hoort dat de Nederlandse Spoorwegen een reservetrein inzetten om de tijdige aankomst van de olympische winterploeg in Zwolle te garanderen. Maar eigenlijk vindt hij het een blamage. “De NS heeft blijkbaar weinig vertrouwen in de eigen treinen”, zei hij maandag.

De NS brengt de olympische sporters met een speciale, luxe trein van het Franse Chambery naar Zwolle. Om de trein op tijd te laten arriveren, staan op strategische plaatsen onderweg diesellocomotieven klaar om bij problemen de voortzetting van de reis te garanderen. Op een gedeelte van het traject rijdt zelfs een extra hogesnelheidstrein achter de olympische trein aan. Die wordt ingezet bij calamiteiten.

“De NS zou in de gewone dienstregeling ook reservetreinen kunnen inzetten. De vaste klanten zijn net zo belangrijk als de sporters”, zei de Rover-woordvoerder. Onlangs heeft de belangenvereniging aan de NS gevraagd om bij station Uitgeest een reservetrein achter de hand te houden om het verkeer daar beter af te wikkelen. “Maar nee, dat was onbestaanbaar. En nu lukt het wel om een reservetrein in te zetten.”

[Quote:]

Vice President Dick “Buckshot” Cheney kept his word to the inmates at California’s maximum security Folsom State Prison. He played a one hour set with his band “Dickie and The Trigger Happy Birdie Killers”. The set received a luke warm reception until Cheney launched into his new, as yet unreleased, single “Go Fuck Yourself”. During the guitar solo the Vice President thrilled the assembled audience by producing a rifle and opening fire. “He seems angry. Very angry” one inmate said “I mean, I always thought that the American people didn’t like to vote for angry people but…Man, that dude is angry!” I managed to obtain a tape of the performance and am proud to present it here….

Caution: NSFW Lyrics to music.

[Quote:]

[Quote:]

British forces in one of the most dangerous regions of Afghan-istan face their first potential threat from farmers whose poppy fields are due to be destroyed from this week.

The government of President Hamid Karzai is determined to carry out large-scale eradication of opium crops in Helmand province, where the first members of a British task force of 5,700 are being deployed. British commanders here have stressed that their troops will not take part in the highly controversial programme. But both Afghan and British officials have acknowledged that they are likely to suffer a backlash in this largely rural community if farmers lose their livelihood with no adequate compensation.

Reality:

[Quote:]

Violence killed at least 29 people Sunday, including three American soldiers, and mortar fire rumbled through the heart of Baghdad after sundown despite stringent security measures imposed after an explosion of sectarian violence.

A ban on driving in Baghdad and its suburbs helped prevent major attacks during daylight Sunday, but after nightfall explosions thundered through the city as mortar shells slammed into a Shiite quarter in southwestern Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding 53, police said.

The Bush Disconnect:

[Quote:]

President Bush’s national security adviser said Sunday that Iraqi leaders had “stared into the abyss” and determined that sectarian violence was not in their interest.

Although bombings and other attacks have surged in the last week,
Stephen Hadley expressed optimism in the light of statements from Iraqis who have condemned the attacks and pledged to move forward with building a unity government.

“It is a time of testing for Iraqis,” Hadley said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“They’ve stared into the abyss a bit, and I think they’ve all concluded that further violence, further tension between the communities, is not in their interest,” he said.

Whoever battles monsters should take care not to become a monster too, for if you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back at you.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

[Quote:]

Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it “infiltrated” key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military.

The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of “mujahedeen detainees,” who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

The explosive document is certain to become ammunition for critics of the controversial UAE port deal, who fear the Dubai-based firm could be used by terrorists to sneak money and personnel into the United States.

Little is known about the origins or authorship of the message.

“You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies, along with other agencies that should not be mentioned,” the message said.

“Therefore, we warn of the continuation of practicing . . . policies which do not serve your interest and will only cost you many problems that will place you in an embarrassing state before your citizens.

“Your homeland is exposed to us. There are many vital interests that will hurt you if we decided to harm them.”

the issue of may 1974

the issue of march 2006

[Quote:]

Even the Closing Ceremony couldn’t escape valleys with the peaks. Sunday’s ceremony featured a carnival theme, but twice outsiders crashed the party – a female streaker ran onto a runway at the beginning of the show and was escorted away, and a Web site promoter barged in front of a surprised Valentino Castellani, the Turin Olympic Committee president, to scream into the microphone.

[Quote:]

Even iPods need to relax, that’s why a Japanese company created “Chair Man�? portable speakers. Available in three different colors, this bizarre accessory has two built-in 50mm diameter speakers along with flexible arms/legs to secure your iPod.

[Quote:]

While an international debate rages over the future of the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military has quietly expanded another, less-visible prison in Afghanistan, where it now holds some 500 terror suspects in more primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges.

[..]

While Guantánamo offers carefully scripted tours for members of Congress and journalists, Bagram has operated in rigorous secrecy since it opened in 2002. It bars outside visitors except for the International Red Cross and refuses to make public the names of those held there. The prison may not be photographed, even from a distance.

From the accounts of former detainees, military officials and soldiers who served there, a picture emerges of a place that is in many ways rougher and more bleak than its counterpart in Cuba. Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages, the detainees and military sources said, sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for latrines. Before recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight except for brief visits to a small exercise yard.

“Bagram was never meant to be a long-term facility, and now it’s a long-term facility without the money or resources,” said one Defense Department official who has toured the detention center. Comparing the prison with Guantánamo, the official added, “Anyone who has been to Bagram would tell you it’s worse.”