Which would you pick…the Ariston RD-40?

Lovely, eh?

Or the Thorens 160?

Vote now, vote often!

School Accused of Webcam Spying Will Not Face Criminal Charges

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has decided not to bring criminal charges against a Pennsylvania school that remotely activated the webcams on laptops loaned to students.

“I have concluded that bringing criminal charges is not warranted in this matter,” Memeger said. “For the government to prosecute a criminal case, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person charged acted with criminal intent.”

What utter bullshit. Civil cases will continue, and I hope they sue the school system into the dirt. Of course, in that scenario everyone loses- everyone but the jackasses who decided that it was their job to spy on children. Now, if you worked at Best Buy, sold the same kid a laptop and remotely activated the cam and saved images from it, you’d be guilty of child abuse…no matter if you had “criminal intent” or not. But put the word “school” into it, and suddenly its something other than spying? Illegal search and seizure? This is madness.

Have we gone so far around the nanny state bend that somewhere in this “land of the free” there are people who feel that this is the proper role of government (which make no mistake, the school system is)? Now, I’m all for getting rid of Coke machines and Twinkies from lunchrooms, because I rankle at my tax dollars going to purchase poison, but what my child does outside of your building is of no concern to you…or wouldn’t be, if we truly practiced what we preach.

Call center workers becoming as cheap to hire in the U.S. as India

Signs of the times:

At the same time, wages in India’s outsourcing sector have risen by 10 per cent this year and senior outsourcing managers based in the country command salaries above global averages.

Probably lots of folks willing to work at those wages, too. Wonder if Glenn Beck would think they are “unamerican”??

RYKO REMEMBERS BILL HICKS

THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION IN STORES SEPTEMBER 14
2 CD/ 2 DVD Box Set Containing his Most Cherished Stand-Up, Exclusive Material from Family Archives, Songs by Hicks and Liner Notes by Henry Rollins, Eric Bogosian, Paul Outhwaite and Clive Anderson

Ryko is proud to announce the release of The Essential Collection, a four disc set (2 CD/2 DVD) – out September 14th, 2010 on Ryko – that encompasses Bill Hicks’ short but influential career as a satirist, social critic and stand-up comedian. The package contains double DVD discs with over five hours of footage from Bill Hicks’ personal archives including rare, never-before-seen performances from the early 80’s, the cult short film Ninja Bachelor Party (starring Bill Hicks, Kevin Booth and David Johndrow), in-depth interviews with Hicks and a photo gallery from his family’s keepsakes. The 2 CD discs offer over two hours of his best stand-up material with never-before-released performance pieces from a San Ramon , CA show recorded by Bill Hicks that was found in his archives. The box set also features new liner notes written by family members as well as renowned figures (including Henry Rollins, Eric Bogosian, noted UK author Paul Outhwaite, and UK journalist/tv personality, Clive Anderson), and a download card containing original song recordings by Hicks (that were mastered at Abbey Road Studios – London, England) entitled, Lo-Fi Troubadour.

Hell’s yes. More Bill Hicks is always a great thing. I think Henry Rollins said it well:

“If Bill were around now, America would be a better place.” – Henry Rollins

Brazil honors ‘Girl from Ipanema’ writer

Brazil has posthumously given the rank of ambassador to a poet and songwriter who penned the famous Bossa Nova anthem, “Girl from Ipanema.”

The Foreign Ministry bestowed the honor on Vinicius de Moraes, a one-time diplomat who was the poetic force behind Bossa Nova in the 1960s.

What a landmark song. Here’s a nice version with Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto:

We anarchists don’t believe other people are our property. We don’t believe we have the authority to tell other people what to eat, drink, smoke, or whom to have sex with. We’re not their bosses. We don’t own them. And we have no right to act through government to do things we have no legitimate authority to do as individuals. In other words, we anarchists actually believe the things the authors of your civics texts claimed to believe.

As an individual, or as a member of a group of individuals — no matter how large — you don’t own other people.

Imagine how radically the world would change if this was understood?

Why California gay marriage ruling may not head to US Supreme Court

Do proponents of Proposition 8, California’s gay-marriage ban, have any legal standing to appeal last week’s federal court ruling declaring it unconstitutional?

Walker said they needed the state government’s support, which they don’t have, and to demonstrate that legalizing gay marriage will lead to immediate harm even though 18,000 same-sex couples are already legally married in California.

Finally, someone confronts the fear and jeer crowd with the inescapable fact of the gay marriage issue: It doesn’t effect you. Period. At all. Never has, never will. Hence, you have no standing to bring suit. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the issue ends here? No more costly grandstanding by the theocrats, no more pinched face, envious cretins attempting to force their flawed belief system into mainstream society- because make no mistake- gays are more mainstream than people who choose to lead their lives by a work of fiction ever will be, simply by definition.

Now perhaps all these gay-hatin’ goobers can take their energies and focus it on something that might actually make a difference in peoples lives. May I suggest exposing and jailing sex offending Catholic priests?

*Unless of course you do something that minimum wage grunts with a badge find disagreeable, that is.

FBI police harass student for photographing “sensitive” area

Jerome Vorus, who is becoming a full-fledged photo rights activist while still in his teens, had yet another confrontation Friday over his photography.

At first, the cop said yes, he was being detained; for photographing this so-called sensitive area, the one in which groups of people are walking by nonchalantly in the above video as the two men debate.

California judge: Gay marriages to go forward on Aug. 18

The California judge who struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban ruled on Thursday that gay and lesbian couples may begin marrying on Aug. 18 at 5 p.m., unless supporters of Proposition 8 can convince the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a stay.

Well, the good and decent people of this great land had a long run of it, but at 5 PM on the 18th, somewhere in California two men will exchange rings, kiss, and then go look fabulous somewhere. Instantly all hetro marriages will cease, straight peoples reproductive organs will shrivel and drop off, and roaming packs of lesbians will invade your house, chastise you for how you treat your dog, and fix your plumbing. (Sorry, private joke!)

In his earlier ruling striking down the gay marriage ban, Walker wrote that Prop. 8 supporters had failed to “advance any rational basis” as to why gays and lesbians should be denied the right to marry.

“Rational”? Now we’re going to be deciding cases on a rational basis? Whew. That’s a quick demise to any theocracy. You mean we don’t have to give lip service to the non-reality based among us and their repugnant, controlling “morals”?

Oh, the horror.

Looking for a nice gift for the newlyweds? These are just the thing:

Alabama AG sues BP, others over Gulf oil spill

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s attorney general is suing BP and others over the Gulf oil spill because he says the oil company has broken too many promises about accepting responsibility for the disaster.

Attorney General Troy King filed two lawsuits in federal court in Montgomery late Thursday afternoon on behalf of the state. The lawsuits — one against BP and the other against Transocean, Halliburton and other companies associated with the spill — seek economic and punitive damages. No specific amount was listed.

While I applaud any attempt at holding the environment raping and pillaging BP to task for willfully putting profit over life, I have to laugh at “broken promises”. A corporation has one single interest- profit. And they will say and do anything, legal or not, to get more of it.

Now, if you had held the BP CEO and rig manager, and anyone else involved in the decisions that led to the completely avoidable fuckup in the Gulf in jail for at least manslaughter, then nobody would care what the hell some slimy polluter “promised”. And they’d clean the shit up, too.