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“Onthoud dat het downloaden van muziek en films vanaf het internet meestal illegaal is, tenzij je gebruikmaakt van een legale site.” Met die vermaning slaat een folder van voorlichtingscampagne Digibewust de plank mis.

De waarschuwing staat in het ‘Gezinsboekje bedwing het web!‘ (PDF), een voorlichtingsfolder voor kinderen en hun ouders over de gevaren van internet.

De bewering dat downloaden ‘meestal illegaal’ is, is echter in strijd met de Nederlandse wetgeving. Die staat alleen het zonder toestemming uploaden van auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal niet toe. Downloaden is, zolang dat voor niet-commercieel eigen gebruik gebeurt, wel degelijk legaal.

Volgens woordvoerster Inge Aarts van Digibewust, een samenwerkingsverband van de overheid en het bedrijfsleven, is de “zeer geslaagde” folder “een Europees product”, waarvan geen op lidstaten toegespitste versies zijn gemaakt. In de meeste EU-landen is downloaden niet toegestaan. Aarts kan niet zeggen waarom de gewraakte zin niet uit de folder kan worden geschrapt.

Laat me raden – omdat ander de “gift” van de muziek industrie voor het maken van de folder teruggestort moet worden?

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It is said that no other generation before has been as anxious and risk aware as ours. Other than animals, we aren’t equipped for the challenges of contemporary living. We don’t have the abilities to identify the real dangers in a surplus of potential threats and horror scenarios offered to us by mass media. We don’t have the right instincts to tell threat from panicmongering.

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What made Dr. K memorable was a gimmick he employed that began with his introduction at the beginning of his first class:

“Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day.” And thus began our ten-week course.

This was an insidiously brilliant technique to focus our attention – by offering an open invitation for students to challenge his statements, he transmitted lessons that lasted far beyond the immediate subject matter and taught us to constantly checksum new statements and claims with what we already accept as fact. Early in the quarter, the Lie of the Day was usually obvious – immediately triggering a forest of raised hands to challenge the falsehood. Dr. K would smile, draw a line through that section of the board, and utter his trademark phrase “Very good! In fact, the opposite is true. Moving on … ”

As the quarter progressed, the Lie of the Day became more subtle, and many ended up slipping past a majority of the students unnoticed until a particularly alert person stopped the lecture to flag the disinformation. Every once in a while, a lecture would end with nobody catching the lie which created its own unique classroom experience – in any other college lecture, end of the class hour prompts a swift rush of feet and zipping up of bookbags as students make a beeline for the door; on the days when nobody caught the lie, we all sat in silence, looking at each other as Dr. K, looking quite pleased with himself, said with a sly grin: “Ah ha! Each of you has one falsehood in your lecture notes. Discuss amongst yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you next Monday. That is all.” Those lectures forced us to puzzle things out, work out various angles in study groups so we could approach him with our theories the following week.

Brilliant … but what made Dr. K’s technique most insidiously evil and genius was, during the most technically difficult lecture of the entire quarter, there was no lie.

“Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.”

– H.L. Mencken

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Congress certainly has its share of crooks, but Members of the European Parliament make American lawmakers look like amateurs when it comes to pilfering tax monies for private gain. The U.K.-based Sun reports on the latest scandal:

Crooked MEPs are trousering cash meant for workers’ wages, it was revealed yesterday. Some hire “ghost” staff — then claim thousands of pounds from the £100million annual allowance. Others recycle the handout by employing unqualified relatives, a bombshell report on MEPs’ expenses found. In many cases the whole £125,000 allowance is paid to just one person on the staff. One assistant received a “Christmas bonus” worth 19 times their monthly salary. Taxpayers’ money is also being diverted to party funds, with the internal probe describing the corruption as “massive and widespread”.

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In June 2007, the Discovery Channel bought the rights to broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side. However, in February 2008, they made public their intention never to broadcast the documentary due to its controversial nature.HBO then bought rights to the film and announced that it would be broadcast in September 2008, after which the Discovery Channel announced it would broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side in 2009. Many left-wing pundits and bloggers derided the decision, claiming that the Discovery Channel didn’t want to risk Gibney criticizing the network at the Academy Awards should his movie win the Best Documentary Oscar, and also pointed out that the Discovery Channel’s projected 2009 broadcast date would occur after President George W. Bush left office.

Well, Guess what happened…

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Most people believe not only that the 19th Amendment permitted women the right to vote but that since women serve in Congress, the courts and other offices of government, the office of president of the United States has been de-genderized.

Not true. This important legal question exists now and has not been constitutionally addressed. The language and syntax of the 19th Amendment merely removed the barriers that prevented women from voting. It did not identify women to be qualified to become elected president.

The language is clear. The 19th Amendment says: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

We cannot read into the amendment something that is not there. Now, had the amendment said, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote or hold public office shall not be denied,” it would have accomplished what the feminists think took place.

[..]

Today’s feminists believe the election process is an evolutionary process, legalized by common practice and that someday a woman will be president. They are convinced that since women have run for the office, the male-gendered presidential office has been neutered .

Not so. They will be challenged, and a Supreme Court ruling on the language will be necessary. At the very least a constitutional amendment to change the language will be required.

Well, to be honest, if you read the Constitution:

[Article 2, Section 1:]

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

note the “He” I’ve made bold in that text

Perhaps she could just get Bill to be her VP, and step down once it actually gets to the Supreme Court. After all, Amendment XXII says:

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No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

It doesn’t say anything about succeeding to the office if not elected.

I’ve never really understood the race issues in the USA, so I’m just getting this from reading the Constitution, but something similar could be said about Obama being black. After all, Amendment XIII doesn’t mention race, just slavery, and Amendment XV, just like the above case, only mentions voting. If somebody seriously considers the fact that Hillary is female to be a disqualifier, then surely another idiot will show up and say the same about race.

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The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

But honestly, if the USA really wants to be the laughing stock of the rest of the world, a court case about this would do just fine…

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Ralph Nader on Sunday announced a fresh bid for the White House, criticizing the top contenders as too close to big business and dismissing the possibility that his third-party candidacy could tip the election to Republicans.

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I suppose this was inevitable, but the growing movement of doctors and pharmacists who decide that you’re not worthy of medical treatment if you’re female and engaging in sexual behavior they disapprove of has reached the point where some doctors are refusing to perform Pap smears on unmarried women. I guess you probably don’t really need one if you’re a virgin, because they’re looking for cervical cancer, which is linked to HPV, which is sexually transmitted. For the people who think unwanted pregnancy and STDs are just the proper punishment for unmarried, sexually active women, it follows that death from cervical cancer should go on the “punishments for sluts” list.

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‘When a ‘conservative’ or libertarian sees someone about to slice up a nice juicy lookin’ pie they immediately become concerned that there won’t be enough pie for them to have a piece. The ‘conservative’ immediately calls upon government to seize the pie by passing confiscatory pie taxes and then using tax law give the pie to him, the Libertarian asserts that there must be a ‘Free Market for Pie’ not subject to any regulation whatsoever. He plans to ‘corner the market’ in pie and never be without pie again.

The progressive scratches his head wondering at the behavior of the ‘conservative’ and libertarian’s actions and sets about planning to make more pie. He has a good recipe form his mom and figures he can easily make plenty of pie for everyone.

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Is pinching proprietary? We may find out in the coming months as many companies, inspired by the success of Apple’s iPhone, release their own multitouch-enabled laptops, smartphones and tablets. In doing so, these companies — including RIM, Nokia and Synaptics — may run afoul of multitouch patent applications recently filed by Apple.

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If Apple’s patent applications are successful, other manufacturers may have no choice but to implement multitouch gestures of their own. The upshot: You might pinch to zoom on your phone, swirl your finger around to zoom on your notebook, and triple-tap to zoom on the web-browsing remote control in your home theater.

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A woman who had her medical coverage canceled as she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer has been awarded more than $9 million in a case against one of California’s largest health insurers.

Patsy Bates, 52, a hairdresser from Lakewood, had been left with more than $129,000 in unpaid medical bills when Health Net Inc. canceled her policy in 2004.

On Friday, arbitration judge Sam Cianchetti ordered Health Net to repay that amount while providing $8.4 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for emotional distress.

“It’s hard to imagine a situation more trying than the one Bates has had to endure,” Cianchetti wrote in the decision. “The rug was pulled out from underneath, and that occurred at a time when she is diagnosed with breast cancer, one of the leading causes of death for women.”

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Hoe omstreden ook, de pornofilm Deep Throat die de omroepen BNN en VPRO zaterdagavond uitzond, heeft niet geleid tot extreem hoge aantallen kijkers.

907.000 Mensen keken naar de uit 1972 daterende rolprent, zo bleek zondag uit cijfers van de Stichting KijkOnderzoek.

En ik durf te wedden dat als het SGP, CDA en ChristenUnie gewoon de mond hadden gehouden, was dat nog niet de helft geweest.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Renzi of Arizona, a state co-chair for Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, was indicted on corruption charges stemming from land deals in his state, Justice Department officials said on Friday.

The 35-count indictment stemmed from plans by Renzi and a business associate, a real estate investor, to benefit from a land-exchange deal in Arizona in return for Renzi’s support for necessary federal legislation, according to court documents.

McCain, who faced new scrutiny about his ethics this week, reacted to Renzi’s indictment and told reporters in Indianapolis, “I’m sorry. I feel for the family. As you know he has 12 children.”

There was no indication McCain was connected to the case.

[Remember this?]

In September 2006, just weeks before pivotal Congressional midterm elections, Paul Charlton, US Attorney for Arizona, opened a preliminary investigation into Republican Representative Rick Renzi of the state’s First Congressional District for an alleged pattern of corruption involving influence-peddling and land deals. Almost immediately, Charlton’s name was added to a blacklist of federal prosecutors the White House wanted to force from their jobs. Charlton is someone “we should now consider pushing out,” D. Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez’s chief of staff, wrote to then White House Counsel Harriet Miers on September 13. In his previously safe Republican district, Renzi had barely held on in the election. On December 7, the White House demanded Charlton’s resignation without offering him any explanation

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“There seems to be a sense of a very deep-seated collapse in the economy,” said Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing activity in the U.S. Northeast dropped to -24.0 in February from January’s already terrible reading of -20.9. Analysts had been expecting a bounce to about -10 after that sharp drop in January.

“As far as this indicator is concerned, a recession, and a severe one at that, is already underway,” said Paul Ash-worth, of Capital Economics.

“The headline index is now consistent with a deep recession, if sustained at this level,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, in a note.

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The German Family Ministry is pushing to have a book it says slurs Judaism, Christianity and Islam labeled dangerous for children. The book’s publisher says kids have a right to enlightenment.

The German Family Ministry is pushing for the children’s book “How Do I Get to God, Asked the Small Piglet,” by written by Michael Schmidt-Salomon and illustrated by Helge Nyncke, to be included on a list of literature considered dangerous for young people.

“The three large religions of the world, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are slurred in the book,” the ministry wrote in a December memo. “The distinctive characteristics of each religion are made ridiculous.”

So the publisher made a translation to English available:

Den Text des Buches  können Sie sich hier [herunterladen]

Zu den Illustrationen des Buches gelangen Sie [hier]

And yes, it’s a crappy piece of work. But “dangerous”? I doubt it.

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Inside the stout federal courthouse of this Mississippi River town, the dirty secrets of Iraq war profiteering keep pouring out.

Hundreds of pages of recently unsealed court records detail how kickbacks shaped the war’s largest troop support contract months before the first wave of U.S. soldiers plunged their boots into Iraqi sand.

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In one case, a freight-shipping subcontractor confessed to giving $25,000 in illegal gratuities to five unnamed KBR employees “to build relationships to get additional business,” according to the man’s December 2007 statement to a federal judge in the Rock Island court. Separately, Peleti named five military colleagues who allegedly accepted bribes. Prosecutors also have identified three senior KBR executives who allegedly approved inflated bids. None of those 13 people has been charged.

A common thread runs through these cases and other KBR scandals in Iraq, from allegations the firm failed to protect employees sexually assaulted by co-workers to findings that it charged $45 per can of soda: The Pentagon has outsourced crucial troop support jobs while slashing the number of government contract watchdogs.

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Freedom from religion in Britain is becoming as important as freedom of religion, according to a United Nations investigation into religion in the UK.

In a 23-page report published this evening, a UN rapporteur claims the 2001 Census findings that nearly 72 per cent of the population is Christian can no longer be regarded as accurate. The report claims that two-thirds of British people now do not admit to any religious adherence.

The report also calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England. The role and privileges of the established Church are challenged because they do not reflect “the religious demography of the country and the rising proportion of other Christian denominations.”

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Texas Republicans have worked overtime to make it harder for key Democratic voting groups to vote and be represented fairly. The redistricting games they’ve played are infamous. And for the Prairie View A&M University precincts, they put the early-polling place more than seven miles from the school.

So what did the students in this video do? They shut down the highway as they marched seven miles to cast their votes on the first day of early voting.

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Although celebrated yesterday, the victory was sealed last month when Sony swayed Warner Bros. to back Sony’s Blu-ray technology and quit producing movies using Toshiba Corp.’s rival HD DVD format.

What remains a mystery is just how big a push Warner needed to pick sides. Analysts say Sony only prevailed following a heated bidding war against Toshiba, with the reward reaching as much as $400-million (U.S.). Neither side has confirmed the size of any bids or payments.

So the only available HD format is now a piece of Sony spawn crap that’s so useless they had to bribe large companies to use it.

I guess I’ll pass.