Almost a year ago today..
February 5th, 2012Absolutely Stunned
February 4th, 2012I think i just found one of the greatest things in my life.. totally stunned.
Some music expressions are below.
Inactive — soon to be back :)
January 28th, 2012I’m sorry that I’ve been inactive for awhile. .. We will soon make a huge comeback.. Been fighting hard for Ron Paul lately.
We have more to come soon…
Angry geeks fire back at SOPA supporters
December 24th, 2011Hell hath no fury like a computer nerd scorned. Activists against a legislation that will severely censor the Web are waging a war with supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act and their strength is quickly swelling in numbers.
Both Congress and the Internet have been abuzz lately with the Stop Only Piracy Act, or SOPA, a bill which will allow the US government to erect a firewall across the Web and largely limit what websites are accessible to American people. While the debates on Capitol Hill might be bit boring and are largely sponsored by the millions of lobbying dollars sent in by SOPA supporters, the Internet is offering a no-holds-barred battleground to make sure that the bill doesn’t make it to legislation.
Advocates against SOPA are tackling the act but taking it where they know best: the World Wide Web.
Lists are circulating around the Internet advertising the list of organizations supporting the SOPA legislation, allowing advocates for an open Internet to know who the bad guy is in this battle for free speech and online access. With the recent approval of the National Defense Authorization Act, hackers quickly dived deep into the Internet to begin prying out personal details from supporters of the law that allows the US government to indefinitely detain and torture Americans without charge. But while a blow to constitutional rights is one thing, taking away the Internet is a whole new can of worms.
As threats of SOPA being passed increasing day by day, activists against the act have unleashed largely on its supporters already.
The website Reddit.com is helping organize a campaign to crush the code by encouraging online entrepreneurs to move their personal websites off of GoDaddy.com, the largest domain registrar on the Web who also happens to be a supporter of SOPA. On Thursday this week, one user asked the Reddit audience, “I’m suggesting Dec 29th as move your domain away from GoDaddy day because of their support of SOPA. Who’s with me?” In less than a day, the post received early 3,000 comments and the support from other activists across the Web.
One person who has signed on for the the down-with-GoDaddy campaign is Ben Huh, the Internet guru that helped bring the “I Can Has Cheezburger” meme to the mainstream. He tweeted on Thursday that he will move all 1,000 domains owned by his company, Cheezburger, off of GoDaddy lest the registrar revokes their support.
“SOPA is cancer to the Free Web,” Huh writes on Twitter.
Go Daddy seemed to think otherwise, however, and originally said that SOPA will only help the Web. “We are grateful that this Committee agrees that it’s time for increased enforcement action because U.S. businesses are hurting, and those of us in the Internet ecosystem are in a unique position to help,” the company told Congress in an official statement last month.
Other domain name registrars don’t agree though and are offering discounted rates for people that switch providers, encouraging them to make the move by using coupon codes such as “NODADDY,” “BYEBYEGD” and “NOSOPA.”
As the heat was added to the fire, GoDaddy cracked on Friday, finally revoking support for SOPA.“In changing its position, Go Daddy remains steadfast in its promise to support security and stability of the Internet,” the registrar writes on Friday.The company’s general counsel, Christine Jones, writes that “Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future,” and the company has removed blog postings on their site of SOPA legislation that it had originally been in favor of.
As RT reported earlier this week, others have identified ways to bypass some of the Internet filtering that could be created if SOPA is passed. Others have simply offered up messages online that they hope to go viral. Singer Leah Kauffman’s “Firewall (Don’t Let Our Government Ruin The Internets)” video has exploded online and a campaign on Twitter to crush SOPA has caused a tremendous buzz as well. But if you don’t think the legislation will matter all that much to you, look no further than the online porno industry.
YouPorn, one of the top-100 most visited websites in the world, has published a post to their site called “Stop US Gov’t From Censoring Your Internet; Stop S.O.P.A!” In it, the administrators of the popular porn site warn their immense audience, “If passed, SOPA will destroy the Internet as we know it.”
“Not only will the bill hamper if not utterly destroy countless technological innovations, it could spell the end of online competition, and mean the beginning of massive online monopolies run by the biggest corporations in the entertainment industry,” adds a post on the YouPorn blog. “Not to mention the fact that any pre-existing site (like YouPorn) could be blocked from all of North America by said Government or Corporations at the drop of a hat, with or without merit.”
“What it really comes down to is: Are you willing to put absolute control of the Internet into the hands of the US Government and a select few entertainment industry corporations? I know I’m not, YouPorn sure as hell isn’t, the entire PornHub Network isn’t, and the hundreds of thousands of companies and people that have joined the cause? You can bet your ass they don’t.”
Ron Paul asks Ben Bernanke – Is Gold Money? July 13, 2011
July 23rd, 2011Fallen U.P. soldier returns home
June 12th, 2011Fallen U.P. soldier returns home
Spc. Robert L. Voakes Jr
Spc. Robert L. Voakes Jr., 21, of L’Anse, Mich, died of wounds suffered June 4, in Laghman province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device (IED) . He was assigned to the 793rd Military Police Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
[When I did a bit of research it shows that there were multiple people who were killed in this same battalion / same incident which killed Robert.]
Spc. Robert L Voakes Jr., Was brought back home via air plane about a week after he gave up his life for his country in Afghanistan. The plane carrying the body of Spc. Robert L. Voakes Jr,. Landed at the Houghton County Memorial Airport in Hancock shortly after 9:00 A.M.
A very large group of supporters and various agencies around the copper country were on hand to remember Spc. Robert L Voakes, JR. and to escort him back to his hometown.
6/7/2011 - A U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains
of Army Pfc. Robert L. Voakes Jr., of L’Anse, Mich., at
Dover Air Force Base, Del., June 6, 2011. Voakes wasassigned to the 164th Military Police Company Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
(U.S. Air Force photo/Roland Balik)
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When I first got the news of the loss of our local soldier.. I was quite shocked. I spent the day searching for information to put the puzzle together. Of course it didn’t end up like most rumors… I did my usual job and quickly got the media on board to get as much attention on the subject as we could. When I had contacted WLUCTV6 they took down the information and they did nothing for about a few days… (this is nothing unusual) I then contacted WBUP TV (ABC 5&10) and had Mike Hoey check into it quickly. As usual… it was quickly checked into and the next day we had coverage.
Daniel Benishek was in the area for a dinner with the local GOP, when he spoke his condolences to the family of Robert Voakes.
Al Franken Makes Senate Stand for Net Neutrality
May 10th, 2011Al Franken Makes Senate Stand for Net Neutrality
Sen. Al Franken took to the Senate floor late Wednesday to call on his colleagues to reject a House effort to take away our most basic Net Neutrality freedoms.
Last month, the House voted on a “resolution of disapproval” that would strip the FCC of any authority to safeguard freedom of speech and freedom of choice on the Internet.
The House vote was a mistake, Sen. Franken said in an impassioned speech before an empty chamber. He vowed to fight the resolution (H.J. Res. 37) when it’s taken up by fellow senators.
Net Neutrality “is a fundamental design principle” put in place at the inception of the Internet to ensure that everyone had equal access to information online, and that the network would foster innovation and ideas.
“We want to preserve that,” Franken said, adding that Net Neutrality rules ensure “that the Internet that we know and love does not become corrupted and altered by a small number of large corporations controlling the last free and open distribution channel we have in this country.”
A Diverse Net Neutrality Movement
After his speech, Franken received 87,000 letters from Free Press activists (including 2,000 Minnesotans) opposing the House’s effortto undo the FCC’s open Internet rules.
“I am confident that as more Americans realize what is at stake here, that we will hear from more and more constituents who will ask us to protect them from a corporate takeover of the Internet,” he said.
To stop H.J. Res. 37 in the Senate, we need at least 50 other senators to join Franken’s defense of online rights.
Net Neutrality used to be a bipartisan issue that seemed obvious to everyone, Franken said, citing past support from Senate Republicans, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and groups as diverse as the Christian Coalition, MoveOn.org and the Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Keeping the Internet’s Most Basic Principle
“This is not a radical concept,” Franken said yesterday, “but the House wants to change all of that and effectively turn control of the Internet over to a handful of very powerful corporations.”
Franken gave credit to Net Neutrality opponents, “who have done a masterful job of manipulation the American public into believing that Net Neutrality is something that it is not.”
“Net Neutrality is not about a ‘government takeover of the Internet,’” he said. “That is 180 degrees opposite of the truth.”
Franken was referring to a recent speech by House Speaker John Boehner, who said that the “new majority in the House is committed to using every tool at our disposal to fight a government takeover of the Internet.”
Citizens United, Net Neutrality and Corporate Spin
Net Neutrality is the fundamental idea that we all should be able to connect to one another and all of the websites on the Internet… that our network provider should only provide us with a connection and get out of our way. Net Neutrality rules are a light regulatory touch to keep these freedoms in place.
This concept was baked into the Internet’s DNA at its inception, and is the reason it grew to become a powerful engine of free speech, equal opportunity and economic innovation.
Despite that, Franken expressed concern about the power that corporations wield in Washington to spin such an obvious benefit into something sinister.
“We have always known that large corporations have the power to influence elections. And then last year, the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United took a situation that was already terrible and made it worse, much worse,” he said.
“Now AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and Comcast can spend unlimited amounts of money to support the candidate, candidates or campaigns that they care the most about, or to try to weaken or kill Net Neutrality.”
Fighting Corporate Money with People Power
AT&T alone spent $15.3 million on campaign contributions in one year and employed more than 90 full-time lobbyists to influence Congress. Its contributions to PR firms like Arts & Labs, Astroturf front groups like Americans for Prosperity, and coin-operated think tanks like the Phoenix Center are designed to insulate legislators with a false sense of consensus regarding its policy objectives.
“How can American consumers stuck with rising cable, Internet and cell phone bills ever be expected to counter that type of lobbying power?” Franken asked.
Last year, as the FCC was deciding on the Net Neutrality rules now in question, more than two million Americans sent letters to Washington urging elected officials and the FCC “to stand with the public by protecting Net Neutrality once and for all.”
As more Americans voice their concerns about this new threat to the Internet, we must make certain that our senators hear us before it’s too late.
Lawmakers listening to residents on April 23
May 9th, 2011
Huuki, Casperson hosting Houghton, Baraga town halls