No SOPA For You…
Yesterday I was “on strike” to support the anti-SOPA movement by blacking out my websites and staying off the Internet during traditional work hours (no not a full 24 hrs due to the social nature of my personal time online). In fact, I wrote this blog entry on a notebook app for my Kindle Fire with my wireless still turned off.
I happen to be the kind of person that true anti-piracy laws should be designed to protect, as I have several published works that bring in royalties. I also write music, though not professionally, that requires protection in a world where it is all too easy to rip off “the little guy”. I have had to spend a great deal of time and effort going after blog farms and radio station websites that have ripped off my articles.
However, there are already plenty of laws on the books that protect me. SOPA, as it is written, does not strengthen these laws or even provide additional protection for me or any freelance intellectual property owners. SOPA, at its heart, only gives power to attempt to stop access to foreign websites accused of copyright violation. The worst part is that it puts the burden of proof on the defendant, not the accuser or prosecutor. This goes against the purpose of our American way of justice! Because of this, a potential abuse of the rights granted from SOPA could allow any competitor to shut down any site without any proof, leaving the defendant to have to challenge this in court while their site has been shut down. Only wealthy entities could afford a lengthy court battle while essentially being unable to make any money during this process.
Also, the terribly vague language within SOPA goes against its own purpose of protection against foreign site that are not under American law by allowing interpretations of SOPA to affect US websites that share links without proper permission. This could end social media as we know it. Youtube? Gone. News aggregators? Gone. The simple act of linking to fun websites or LoLcats for your Facebook friends? Gone.
Piracy is already illegal. I have had no problem in following the proper procedures required to get those who have stolen my intellectual property to cease and desist… and I don’t have a team of lawyers… I don’t a lawyer at all. The current laws would be protection enough without having to add a terrible over-reaching bill on top of them when the problem exists because current laws are sometimes difficult, but not impossible, to prosecute. The risks that SOPA creates in terms of censorship and abuses afforded by large corporations make this act of legislation dangerous to our American way of life. Our Freedom is under attack!
Thankfully today’s attempt at raising awareness has already delayed this bill that had been expected to sail right through to passing. This has been a true populist win, though not yet a complete victory until the bill has been killed completely.
The people DO have a voice! We may not have lobbyists on our bankroll. We may not have the power of money behind us. But we have the constitution on our side as well as the numbers when we all truly stand up together. I am proud of this fight against SOPA. A sleeping giant has been awakened and we cannot be silenced when we work together like this.
Lets show this ineffective Congress that we are mad as hell and are not gonna take it anymore!
Ramblings on Weather…
Clouds pregnant with rain were trying their damnedest to blot out the early evening sun and that pushed a thick mattress of humidity down upon us. Omaha had donned a tropical Floridian mask. A breeze would be comfortable but alas we have sent our trademark winds eastward this year which has given birth to one of the most devastating springs of all time to the lands east of the Missouri.
Hollywood's next offer to aid BP?
Well, it has come to this...
After failing to get BP on-board with James Cameron and Kevin Costner, Hollywood has recruited another celebrity humanitarian with extensive experience that would greatly aid BP in plugging its leak: Richard Gere
Richard Gere (right) and Lemmiwinks jr. (left)
Well, we can only hope Richard Gere can finally help BP plug the leak. He is confident that his way will work better than the golf ball technique BP used early in the tragedy. Clearly the voice of experience!
Well… I think I just killed God.
I offer my Facebook friends the special privilege of reading my ridiculously long comments to their simple little status posts. Sometimes these turn into fun and stimulating debates, sometimes my "friends" quickly search for the "ignore user" option that Facebook supplies.
One such moment occurred sometime this morning as the sun began to peek up from the horizon. The topic was of Religion because certainly there is no better way to begin an early Monday morning than to challenge someone online with opposition to their views on Religion.
Behold! an unedited (ok, edited slightly for length) transcript and proof of why I annoy the hell out of otherwise faithful Facebook friends:
Nell: thinks anyone who claims to believe that there is no God is either ignorant or full of shit. There, I said it.
Jeremy: "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?" - Nietzsche
I think Nietzsche was not debating in god as a concept... only that we seem either too arrogant, too ignorant, or perhaps too self-reliant that we have stopped looking to heavens for the answers we continually seek.
Nell:
I think it's a bit arrogant to think that human kind has the power to destroy its creator, even if it is only symbolic, since we are the ones that are truly dying, physically, and in the given case, spiritually. Interesting concept, though. One of my favourite quotes is from Nietzsche.Jeremy:
it might be something different than arrogance... or at least arrogance with a purpose.one of the most universal moments that all animals, most especially humans, share is a moment in their life where they must separate from the nest, so to speak for us at least... in order to live their own personal lives and make their own personal choices. this leads first to discovering one's self which in turn aids in finding that perfect mate for us to reproduce the best possible future of our species.
as people, we go through teenage years of building defiance to our parents... some sooner, some longer, some worse, some better, than others. though it doesn't always seem obvious... this helps us discover self-reliance to allow us to create our own lives away from our parents.
what if, as human civilisation progressed to the point that most Western cultures have achieved, we have reached a point in our species development to strike out on our own? Nietzsche meant this when he talked that we killed god. Whether god is a wizard in the sky, a force of nature, a form of fate, a flying spaghetti monster, or even a balance of dark and light... none of us can really truly speak of knowing. but i don't think that matters really in the slightest.
if god exists and an atheist doesn't believe god exists, god still exists. if god does not exist and those of faith believe that god does exist, god still does not exist.
but if we find answers, questions, strengths, weaknesses, happiness, or sadness in either the belief or disbelief of a god... the THOSE are what truly exist. those are and have always mattered more. and those are undeniable. if i find strength in a faith... no one can tell me that i don't find strength in a faith. in the end... it doesn't matter at all what we call our higher powers, does it? it has never mattered what name we give them, what face, image, or depiction that we give them. it has never mattered what stories we pretend that they command us to spread, does it? what matters and has always mattered is a very personal thing that we might not be too good at sharing because perhaps it was never meant to be shared. its our own faith, our own strength. and i think the realisation of that is what killed God because it brings god's purpose into us. and no one outside of us could ever say a damn thing about what we have inside ourselves.
I think I rather like that response. Well, of course I do... its MY response, lol. Can't argue with personal belief, right? haha.
Hele mei hoohiwahiwa Mahu a me Mahu's la male’ana
HONOLULU - Hawaii is a step closer to joining a small group of other states in allowing same-sex civil unions.
In a move that still needs the governor's signature to become law, the House of Representatives Thursday night approved a measure that has drawn some of the state's biggest protest rallies.
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle hasn't said whether she'll reject it or sign it into law but her office said later that she will carefully review the bill.
The House voted 31-20 in favor of the legislation, which had been stalled but was unexpectedly revived on the last day of this year's legislative session. The Senate passed it in January.
The measure would grant gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits that the state provides to married couples.
If approved, Hawaii will become one of six states — along with California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington — to grant essentially all the rights of marriage to same-sex couples without authorizing marriage itself.
Five other states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex marriage: Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The Aloha State has been a battleground in the gay rights movement since the early 1990s.
A 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court ruling nearly made Hawaii the first state to legalize same-sex marriage before voters in the state overwhelmingly approved the nation's first "defense of marriage" constitutional amendment in 1998.
The measure gave the Legislature the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples. It resulted in a law banning gay marriage in Hawaii but left the door open for civil unions.
This year the issue has proven divisive in Hawaii with religious groups arguing that civil unions are a step toward legalizing same-sex marriage. During one of the biggest ever state rallies, several thousand people protesting the measure rode buses to the Hawaii Capitol last year following Sunday church services.
The gay and lesbian community urged lawmakers to act on their principles rather than back down in the face of public pressure from opponents threatening to vote them out of office.
Civil-union supporters wearing rainbow-colored leis, or flower necklaces, jumped and screamed for joy outside the House chamber following the vote.
"Hawaii is the Aloha State, and this vote shows that the greater community has love and acceptance for everyone," said supporter Van Law.
Disappointed civil union opponents wearing red "iVote" buttons as a warning to legislators this election season quickly departed the Hawaii Capitol, with only a few lagging behind.
"Civil unions are a step down the very slippery slope toward legalizing same-sex marriage," said Rachel Nakasaki, a Christian who believes traditional marriage between a man and a woman should be preserved.
Hawaii's civil union legislation appeared to be dead in January, when the House didn't take a vote on the measure and postponed it indefinitely out of fears that Lingle would veto.
The issue was revived Thursday after every other bill introduced this year had been acted on. Democratic House Majority Leader Blake Oshiro made the motion to reconsider the bill, although the House fell three votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the governor.
The bill was written so that civil unions would be available to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples to avoid claims of discrimination.
"Equality feels really good," said Suzanne King, who said Hawaii would recognize her Massachusetts marriage to her partner as a civil union if the bill becomes law. "It allows us to strengthen our family."
If Lingle vetoes the bill, it's unlikely lawmakers would return to the Capitol to try to override her. They lack enough votes, and it's an election year where legislators are hesitant to take stands on contentious social issues unless they're forced to, as they were during Thursday's roll-call vote.
"I'm looking forward to not coming back," said Democratic Speaker of the House Calvin Say.
About the Wordherder
I am a 33 yr old freelance writer, website developer, perpetual student, arbiter of silliness, aficionado of cheese, and proud owner of a beautiful mini-dachshund named Carrera.
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