YouTube - CassieIsWatching

I apologize for not posting in awhile. I've been a bit busy, and in my spare time I've been caught up in the whole LonelyGirl15/CassieIsWatching thing on YouTube. I didn't really get caught up in it until CassieIsWatching, because that's when it started getting interesting. Not sure where it'll lead, but I'd like to think it's a huge Alternate Reality Game. Coincidentally, I just picked up a copy of Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming [affiliate link] when all of this started. Good book so far! And if you're watching, Cassie, I'm ready!

More wiretapping goodness...

It's crap like this that really ticks me off, and prompts essays like my last one.

When did we lose the cold war?

When I was growing up during the 70's and 80's, we had one enemy: "The Soviets." It wasn't that we were at war with them, but we were taught to hate the enemy none-the-less. In a work of fiction, for instance televised wrestling, if you needed an enemy, you put a mask on him and wrote U.S.S.R. (or, for those who realized USSR was an English translation, CCCP) on his trunks. After all, everyone knew that the Soviets were evil. Even when we began to know better, we were still taught that their way of life was evil. This is what the cold war was about, as I'm sure that the children of the USSR were taught the same thing about us. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed is 1991, it appeared that our way of life had won. We would no longer have to worry about having to show our papers when traveling domestically.

One September morning 10 years later, with one terrorist act that was, statistically, an anomaly, and all of those cold war fears were realized. Our enemy is no longer the Soviet in the mask with USSR or CCCP on his wresting trunks, but the result is the same. As a result of the 9/11 attacks, we can no longer travel domestically, at least by air, without showing "our papers" in the form of a photo ID. We can no longer show up at an airport and pay cash for the next ticket to wherever our hearts desire. And even when we buy our tickets in advance, we are subjected to harassment by random KGB - err, TSA - agents.

Since these horrible events five years ago, our rights have been increasingly stripped. Once again, we are fighting a cold war, but this time it is with our own government. Our "official" stance is still that we do not negotiate with terrorists. Apparently, this is taken to mean, by the current administration at least, that we give them everything they want. By declaring "war on terror" and taking away our rights, our government has given the war to the terrorists. By invading Iraq and taking out the leader of a sovereign nation, our government has destabilized an entire region. This lack of stability plays into the hands of the terrorists because they can legitimately blame us for this problem and easily recruit new members.

Sadly, the cold war was lost five years ago, with the events following 9/11, ten years after it had ended. We have lost it as much to our own government as to the terrorists who have attacked us. Today, I mourn the loss of those who died, but I also mourn the loss of our freedoms.

DVR software

I've recently written a couple of entries on Minimum Linux about my experiences with MythTV. You'll have to head over there to read about the troubles I ran into, and as I mention there, I've settled on GB-PVR under Windows XP for now. It seems to do most of what I wanted out of Myth, without too much hassle getting things going, so it'll do for now. One thing I do look forward to is getting some of the PC games set up on the home theater system. It could be lots of fun :)

Sorry so quiet...

I realize that I've been a bit quiet on here lately. I've been suffering from a pretty severe cold, which I'm finally recovering from, and have two(!) exams in psychology class this week, the second of which is tonight. After that, summer session is out and I have a week before fall quarter starts, so hopefully I can get some serious blogging done (or at least, some of my projects worked on).

Court rules NSA wiretapping program unconstitutional, orders halt

I think the title says it all. More can be found over on ars technica.

SAVE MALAK

I received the following email in my inbox overnight, and have posted it in as timely manner as I could.

As a Persian-American human rights lawyer and activist, I am writing to seek your support in the international campaign to save the life of Malak Ghorbany, a 34 year old mother of two, who has been sentenced to death by public stoning in Iran for committing "adultery." As you are aware, it is extremely important to generate as much publicity and awareness about Ms. Ghorbany's case, as well as those of other women who have been recently sentenced to death by stoning in Iran, including Ashraf Kahori.

Last Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors introduced a resolution to urge the U.S. State Dept. to officially condemn sentences of "sangsar" (death by stoning) in Iran. The resolution includes references to cases of Malak Ghorbany and Ashraf Kalhori, and the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on it on Tuesday, August 15, 2006. I am extremely optimistic about the adoption of this resolution, as it opens the path for other governmental bodies to take similar steps in condemning the barbaric and violent sentences of public stoning in Iran. You can read the full text of the proposed resolution at: http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=print&sid=345

I would be enormously grateful if you would publish the information about Malak Ghorbany's case and death sentence, as well as about the pending resolution denouncing the inhumane and barbaric sentence to which Malak and other Iranian women have been condemned.

You can find relevant information, along with the link to the petition that has been set up to protest Malak's stoning sentence at the link below.

SAVE MALAK: http://savemalak.googlepages.com/home


Should you have any questions or require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me via email at LMazahery@gmail.com


Sincerely,

Lily Mazahery, Esq.
President
Legal Rights Institute
Washington, DC