The Proletariat Congress

In a foolish, unguided move today, the Swedish court hearing the trial, at which the Pirate Bay was the star, it declare its founders to be guilty and sentenced them to one year in jail. All because the court held that the founders aided users in engaging in copyright infringement.

If that is the reasoning for this, then shut down the whole goddamn internet! Every link will invariably link to some kind of copyrighted material. I know I likely am linking to something that is copyright. I too am guilty. After all, I am linking to the Pirate Bay from the image above. After all, it’s just a link until you decide to actually take the material. A link is simply a link until you do something with the material.

Advertising is a kind of linking. It is just telling you what is there and where to find it. A link is just that. What the person does is their responsibility.

I believe in the internet and I will not give up just because some court somewhere has decided it wants to give into the whims of corporate bullies who apply collective, punitive punishment to their paying customer base in the form of DRM.

If the music and films being produced are such garbage that people won’t pay to see them, then perhaps the industry should take note and stop pumping out utter garbage en masse and start giving us quality again if they want to see people pay for the goods. I know I won’t pay for garbage. I would have no qualms with downloading it, but I would never pay for low quality garbage.

If prices weren’t so high and quality was a sure thing, filing sharing would go down. Too bad the industry is run by a bunch of moronic twats who have their collective head shove twenty thousand leagues up its ass to see this.

It is not often one hears of such follies and amusing stories. But when such stories come around, they are truly gems worthy of the attention of all. These stories need to be told time and time again.

In an era where photo ops and media blitz is everything, the slightest slip up can have consequences or it can show just how insignificant a person truly is, even if they are the leader of a nation. As Prime Minsiter Harper learned the hard way. He had been expected, at the G20 summit to appear in the leaders’ photo next to German Chancellor Merkel, but instead was AWOL. No one noticed that he had been in the bathroom.

Sure there had been a second photo taken when someone finally had the realisation that Harper was indeed not present, but it doesn’t change the fact that the first photo had been taken without him present, demonstrating just how insignificant he is compared to other world leaders. After all, if he was truly significant as a leader, someone would have said something. But he’s no Barrack Obama.

Red-faced Harper misses G20 photo

There are few nations in the world that can claim that they have democratic integrity and those who do are often no better than the sham democracies that exist in the rest of the world. Democratic integrity recognises the will of the people even if the laws aren’t perfect. Laws are made by those voted into power and those in power often make laws as norms dictate even if it means someone will eventually protest it.

There comes a time when those in power must realise that they are accountable to their people and that means that if something isn’t right that they should return to the people for approval. To ask the people how they’re doing.

A recall vote. Or as people in the real world like to call this: performance review

A voluntary recall vote is a sign of democratic integrity because it means those in power realise that they may not be fit for the job. There is one government that this surely applies to. The socialist government of Bolivia and its president Evo Morales.

I’m only including a screen capture because the title is just so stunning to read. Politicians are not normally associated with honesty and integrity.

Before the era of electricity, the night was lit by candles and by the dim stars that shone in the sky above, and if we were lucky, the moon would be out to illuminate the night for us.

Those of us in the 21st century who live in large cities often don’t get the luxury of seeing this, for the light pollution of our sprawling urban centres outshines the stars and moon above.

At night, while I sit in front of my computer, which is in front of a window, over looking the balcony from the 8th floor of my humble crap shack, I see not the stars and moon but the lights radiating from the buildings as I gaze north. The only flicker of light that I see in the sky is that of an air plane either arriving or departing from Pearson International.

We are dependent upon the conveniences and luxuries of the 21st century to make our lives easier.

Perhaps it is time to think of more than ourselves…

Even a small sacrifice makes the larger ones easier because we learn that it is possible and that nothing bad will come of a little down time in a hectic world.

I don’t know about you, but at 8pm est on March 29th, 2008 I will be turning off my lights, and powering down my computer, and enjoying the darkness.

Earth Hour