They can touch our balls at the airport, but they will never take our internet!!!
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British anti-internet propaganda.
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Jesus copied bread.
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Kim Schmitz Sentencing:
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Lamar Smith, hypocrite and psychopath.
Estonia Next In Line To Receive US ‘Encouragement’ To Adopt Harsher Anti-Piracy Laws
Numerous Wikileaks cables have highlighted the pressure that the US has brought to bear on several foreign governments behind closed doors in an attempt to get the latter to pass maximalist copyright laws. But it’s worth noting that plenty of arm twisting takes place openly. Here, for example, is a letter (pdf) from the American Chamber of Commerce in Estonia addressed to the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications of that country:
We find that the level of intellectual property protection in Estonia needs to be improved, both on the legislative and practical fronts. Estonian government should also focus more on investigating the commercial IPR infringements committed through the Internet, and not only breaches of law in relation with cyber terrorism. In addition, the government must follow the EU and national level debates that might have an impact on IPR legislative framework.
In other words, Estonia really ought fall into line like the other countries. Because if it doesn’t:
Insufficient IPR protection has a negative effect on the entire economic situation in Estonia. As long as the IPR holders cannot be sure that their rights are protected, the international groups are hesitant in having their R&D units in Estonia and it is likely that R&D projects are run in countries with more comprehensive IPR protection. Insufficient IPR protection can also be an obstacle for starting new production units in Estonia as the IPR holders feel that the risk of IPR infringement is too high in Estonia and therefore it is better to produce their products in countries where the IPR-s are better protected.
Although the letter touches on trademarks and other areas, its central concern is copyright infringement, especially on the Internet. Its list of demands — sorry, suggestions — is depressingly familiar: stronger protection; more criminal prosecutions; intermediary liability for ISPs and website owners; and an “effective mechanism of damage compensation, without having to go through lengthy, complicated or costly procedures for achieving redress through the courts.” 
(Read more)
It has begun: Website accused of defamation is closed by judge
A JUDGE yesterday ordered a website to be shut down and said lawmakers should think about making it illegal to post “patently untrue” allegations about people on the internet.
Mr Justice Michael Peart was speaking after he granted Damien Tansey various orders, effectively ending the operation of the website www.rate-your-solicitor.com.
The Sligo-based solicitor brought defamation proceedings to the High Court arising out of comments on the website.
The action was against site operators John Gill, of Drumline, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare; and Ann Vogelaar, of Parklands, Westport, Co Mayo.
It is also against the US-based internet services provider, Dostster Inc, which hosts the site. Both Mr Gill and Ms Vogelaar denied the claims against them. (Read more)
Ed Crane’s Remarkable Hit Piece on Ron Paul
The Wall Street Journal published a remarkable hit piece on Ron Paul two weeks ago entitled “Why Ron Paul Matters.” It is remarkable because while purporting to be a defense of Ron Paul’s ideas, it subtly portrays Ron Paul the real candidate as unelectable while distorting or dismissing outright some of his most important positions.
The author of the article, Ed Crane, begins with a solemn expression of regret over the hoary and irrelevant newsletters of yore to “which Paul lent his name” and which contained allegedly “bigoted” and “intolerant” material. Crane concedes that the objectionable ideas expressed in the newsletters are not consistent with what he knows of Ron Paul’s current views and, moreover, that Paul “disavows supporting them.” And yet Crane makes sure that the reader knows that Paul “refuses to repudiate” his association with the “likely source” of this secular sin of intolerant speech. Crane has somehow divined that this cardinal sinner against the official State creed of political correctness is none other than Lew Rockwell—who just happens to be the leading critic of neoconservatism and of its offshoot Big Government libertarianism that Crane’s Cato Institute promotes so zealously. So by the end of the first paragraph we know exactly where all this is heading—and exactly why the neocon Wall Street Journal published it. (Read more)
The Politician as Psychopath
Living the big lie.
Explosions damage Italy tax agency
Three explosive devices blew up outside the Naples offices of Equitalia, a state agency that collects overdue taxes and fines, breaking windows but injuring no one on Monday night, a police official told Reuters.
Police said no group had claimed responsibility for the attack on the building on Corso Meridionale near Naples central rail station.
Equitalia, whose offices have been attacked before, is deeply unpopular among many Italians who accuse it of using strongarm tactics to collect taxes. (Read more)
Michelle Obama Listed Daughters Malia and Sasha as “Senior Staffers” for $432,142 African Trip
Washington Whispers reported on the African trip.
First lady Michelle Obama’s family trip to South Africa and Botswana in June cost taxpayers well over $424,000, according to new accounting based on Air Force manifests obtained by Judicial Watch, a taxpayer watchdog group.
The use of Air Force aircraft alone for the June 21-27 trip cost $424,142, said the group, and that doesn’t include the food, lodging, and ground transportation for the 21 family and staff members.
The daughters were listed as senior staff. (Read more)
PAC-MAN hacked onto a tamper-proof voting machine
Ron Paul Compilation 1984 – present
Iranian attack on America and allies increasingly likely – intelligence chief
The head of US intelligence has warned that there is an increasing likelihood that Iran could carry out attacks in America or against US and allied targets around the world. (Read more)
Merkel faces rebellion, goes begging
From a recent Open Europe summary:
Tensions rise over second Greek bailout as German government faces rebellion
Bild reports that around 40 MPs from the CDU, CSU and FDP coalition could rebel against the second Greek bailout, meaning that the government may only win a narrow majority.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaves today on a state visit to China, where among others, she will again try to solicit Chinese investment in the eurozone’s bailout fund, the EFSF, reports FT Deutschland.
Soviet Anti-Religious Campaigns
The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. Actions toward particular religions, however, were determined by State interests, and most organized religions were never outlawed.
The main target of the anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and 1930s was the Russian Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of faithful. Nearly all of its clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labor camps. Theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. By 1939 only about 500 of over 50,000 churches remained open.
After Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Joseph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. By 1957 about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become active. But in 1959 Nikita Khrushchev initiated his own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985 fewer than 7,000 churches remained active. Members of the church hierarchy were jailed or forced out, their places taken by docile clergy, many of whom had ties with the KGB.
Campaigns against other religions were closely associated with particular nationalities, especially if they recognized a foreign religious authority such as the Pope. By 1926, the Roman Catholic Church had no bishops left in the Soviet Union, and by 1941 only two of the almost 1,200 churches that had existed in 1917, mostly in Lithuania, were still active. The Ukrainian Catholic Church (Uniate), linked with Ukrainian nationalism, was forcibly subordinated in 1946 to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches of Belorussia and Ukraine were suppressed twice, in the late 1920s and again in 1944.
Attacks on Judaism were endemic throughout the Soviet period, and the organized practice of Judaism became almost impossible. Protestant denominations and other sects were also persecuted. The All-Union Council of Evangelical Christian Baptists, established by the government in 1944, typically was forced to confine its activities to the narrow act of worship and denied most opportunities for religious teaching and publication. Fearful of a pan-Islamic movement, the Soviet regime systematically suppressed Islam by force, until 1941. The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union that year led the government to adopt a policy of official toleration of Islam while actively encouraging atheism among Muslims.
Go HERE to see correspondence between Lenin and the Politburo, and Gorky and Stalin.
Lenin’s Hanging Order
11-8-18
Send to Penza
To Comrades Kuraev,
Bosh, Minkin and
other Penza
communists
Comrades! The revolt by the five kulak volost’s must be suppressed
without mercy. The interest of the entire revolution demands this,
because we have now before us our final decisive battle “with the
kulaks.” We need to set an example.
1) You need to hang (hang without fail, so that the public
sees) at least 100 notorious kulaks, the rich, and the
bloodsuckers.
2) Publish their names.
3) Take away all of their grain.
4) Execute the hostages – in accordance with yesterday’s
telegram.
This needs to be accomplished in such a way, that people for
hundreds of miles around will see, tremble, know and scream out:
let’s choke and strangle those blood-sucking kulaks.
Telegraph us acknowledging receipt and execution of this.
Yours, Lenin
P.S. Use your toughest people for this.
…………………………….
TRANSLATOR’S COMMENTS: Lenin uses the derogative term
kulach’e in reference to the class of prosperous peasants. A volost’
was a territorial/administrative unit consisting of a few villages and
surrounding land. (Read more)
Hungary far right demands exit from EU, burns flag at rally
Thousands protested against the EU Saturday at a rally of the far-right Jobbik party, calling for Hungary’s exit from the bloc and adding pressure on the government which is seeking a funding deal with the EU and IMF to avert insolvency.
Two MPs of Jobbik, the second biggest opposition party in Hungarian parliament, set an European Union flag on fire at the protest in front of the European Commission offices in Budapest.
“This week the EU declared war on Hungary in a very harsh and open way,” Csanad Szegedi, a Jobbik member of European Parliament told the crowd of around 2,000 demonstrators. (Read more)
Richard Dawkins celebrates a victory over creationists
Leading scientists and naturalists, including Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir David Attenborough, are claiming a victory over the creationist movement after the government ratified measures that will bar anti-evolution groups from teaching creationism in science classes.
The Department for Education has revised its model funding agreement, allowing the education secretary to withdraw cash from schools that fail to meet strict criteria relating to what they teach. (Read more)