I'm scared...

I'm witnessing the breakdown of our political system as it once was and seeing the rise of isolationism, imperialism, and fascism. We are going to have an election in 2004, but I fear that Bush is moving forward to buy the office. His 'war chest' of $200 million, the apparent bias of the national media, the apparent ignorance of a vast majority of the public, all add up to a disaster for democracy. Lies are considered acceptable, cheating is a way of life, winning is to accomplished at all costs. Our moral fiber is weak. We have lost our character, we are allowing our government that took 200 years to refine, be stolen by corporate greed and an urge to subjugate peoples for profit.

In California we face the prospect of a recall of the governor. The Republicans, unable to win in a general election will use a loophole in the election code to allow themselves to take the office with less than a majority vote. I urge all Democrats to be ready to urge all your friends to register and vote NO on the recall.

Legal Hacking?

First we have a hacker getting his hand slapped for hijacking the Al-jazeera site. Some might think of him as a hero, but in international circles, he is a low-life that broke the rules the Internet lives by.

Now, we have Oren Hatch proposing that hacking of computers of users of peer to peer networks should be allowed. In other words, the RIAA would be given the right to violate your computer, by hacking through firewalls or other security software and destroy any and all data on your hard drive. What in hell is he thinking?

Shots fired

This evening just got interesting, as from across the water, near the restaurant district, the sounds of gunfire. That was followed by police helicopters and numerous patrol cars moving at high speed into the area. All is quiet right now. I'll look for it in the paper.