This is an old video; I just found it. I uploaded it to YouTube since you can’t view it on the original DVIDS site. When I was in Iraq our unit commander’s (CPT Callaway) mother sent a bunch of toys over to us. We took these toys and handed them out to Iraqi kids.

…within the span of a few minutes, Beck implied that there are no quality medical schools in India; implied that medical care in India is a shoddy imitation of real health care; implied that the entire nation is an undeveloped backwater without even so much as indoor plumbing; and compared the Ganges River, a holy body of water for one of the world’s oldest and largest religions, to a disease…

I guess the only reason Glenn Beck is popular is because there is apparently a marketable-segment of idiots in America. You know, the morons that watch Fox News and actually believe what they hear. Glenn Beck, you are an asshole. You are an ignorant bigot and a douchebag. There are a few people that I know, that oppose the health reform. But the strange thing is that they have rather valid arguments, and even though I may not agree with them, I find them rather intelligent and well thought-out. I mean, Mr. Beck. I realize that by being an ignorant douchebag it’s beyond you to form coherent arguments but seriously… do you have to stoop to the level of offending an entire nation? Or what about the entire community of Indian-Americans?

Usually when people make arguments or counter-arguments about a topic, they usually know what they’re talking about because they’ve researched the topic thoroughly. Oh wait. That’s only if they have a proper show that actually discusses political topics with valid arguments instead of gleefully bending over for the lunatic far-right and being their sockpuppet. Hell, I probably shouldn’t blame you. You are making money after all, even if you have to sell your soul for it. No, your show is a circus and your arguments are bullshit. Even still, I find it appalling that you would denigrate an entire nation and community. You may not think much about Indian doctors, but they seem to be a successful and well-respected bunch in India, with a large number of satisfied customers. In one fell swoop you’ve insulted the cultural and religious sentiments of Indians, you’ve made light of the sweat, blood, and tears of her doctors that strive to serve their nation (and who have migrated to other nations, including *gasp* the United States and serve Americans), and you’ve implied that India is some backwater country without any sort of facilities. Sure, India is no United States and it has a long way to go, and even though you may have the right to say whatever the hell you want, it’s really, really bad form to make fun of a country and her people. You xenophobic, ignorant, douchebag. I find it surprising that even you would stoop this low for ratings.

You sir, are an asshole.

Now some background. After reading the article about Telengana on Wikipedia, it seems that when the states of India were being re-organized along linguistic lines by the State Reorganization Committee, they were not in favor of merging the Telengana region with the Andra region due to economical disparities. The Central government decided to ignore the SRC recommendations and performed the merger anyway (perhaps using the reason that both areas spoke Telugu, and so there was no reason to split them). As was to be expected, over the past few decades, the Andra region has prospered whereas the Telengana region is still economically underdeveloped.

It would seem that in principle, there needs to be a separate state. However, I’m not so sure of the wisdom of handing over Hyderabad to a fledgling state. It will take time to create a new state-machinery and I think that Hyderabad could suffer in the process. In addition, the city is going to a state with an untested and nascent administration (obviously, because it’s a brand new state). So… maybe not such a great idea. On the general topic of creating more states in India (as a result of the imminent creation of Telengana, many other groups are agitating for their own states) I don’t really have a well-formed opinion. Maybe it’s a good thing – you can have more focused state-administrations and better management. However, the side-effect is increased fragmentation. The last few governments in India have been coalition governments formed with the support of regional parties. Creating more states is probably going to create even more regional parties and it’s not going to help the situation.

Examples

1. Many sources claim that Glenn Beck raped and killed a young girl in 1990^*. However, Glenn Beck has done nothing to deny these claims or even clarify the matter. Does this suggest that he is guilty? Perhaps.
2. Some sources claim that President Obama is very much like Hitler. He has done nothing to deny these claims. Does this suggest that he is like Hitler? Maybe.
3. Joe: Dude, Sarah is a total slut. Some sources say that she has had sex with over 100 guys. She hasn’t done anything to deny these claims.
   Brett: Dude, Have you even talked to Sarah about this?
   Joe: No.
   Brett: Has she even had an opportunity to address your ridiculous claims?
   Joe: No.
   Brett: Do you think she actually cares what a loser like you thinks, or says?
   Joe: Probably not.
   Brett: Then quit, dude! Stop glennbecking! That’s just a total douchebag thing to do!
   Joe: You’re right. Glennbecking is a completely douchebag thing to do!

^*See http://gb1990.com/.

Anyway, so I keep hearing about how the Obama government is turning America into a Socialist nation… or maybe it’s a Communist nation… no wait… it’s Fascist. Either way it’s apparently undermining the foundations of our republic and turning us into Russia… or maybe it’s China… no wait… maybe it’s Nazi Germany. Oh yes, before I get accused of being a crazy liberal let me say (as a disclaimer) that yes, I do lean a little bit left-of-center, but I don’t agree with everything the left says. I’m also not a fan of big government. That being said, let’s analyze three different political ideologies and see what they actually mean.

Communism

Communism: It's a party!

Communism is a political ideology as well as an economic system. Communism aims to create a classless society where everybody is equal. In an ideal communist-society, there is no government and everybody owns everything. People are nice to each other and no one really has any desire for power. It’s one big party. Communism sounds pretty nice in principle. But since human beings are far from perfect and since there are many who are power-hungry and greedy, communism is impractical. Now obviously the United States is quite far away from being a communist nation. Firstly we are neither classless nor egalitarian. Finally, we have a government. Those who accuse the Obama government of turning America “communist” do so because they say that the government is getting too big – which contradicts what communism is about. Besides this main point, there are numerous other points that make America not communist, and that also show that it is not moving in that direction. Anyone who takes the time to look up what Communism really means, can see that. Those who say otherwise are either ignorant, deceitful, or fear-mongering.

Fascism

OWW!!

Fascism isn’t a party. Actually it’s kinda like a party except the hosts tell you exactly what you have to do. You are also supposed to have fun even if the party consists of just knitting and cutting colored paper into random shapes. If you don’t have fun, you can be killed or put in prison. Hell, even if you are having fun but the hosts don’t think you are, you can still be thrown in prison… or killed. Also, don’t even think of saying that the party sucks. You will be killed. Oh yeah, you also go around trashing other people’s parties and killing them also. Fascism is a radical ideology. It advocates a nationalistic and authoritarian single-party state. Fascists believe that a nation (or people) can only advance by being in perpetual conflict with other nations (or people). The weak perish and the strong survive. Fascist governments are authoritarian and dictatorial. There is suppression of free speech, and opposition against the government is not tolerated. It’s rather obvious that the United States if far from being a Fascist nation. Also, in no way is the current administration “Fascist” in any way (neither was the Bush administration). “Fascist” has turned into an adjective that people use, to label governments whose policies they do not like. The fact that those on the extreme right can speak and make their (ridiculous) theories heard points to the fact that the Obama administration is far from “Fascist”. If the administration truly was Fascist, we wouldn’t be hearing these dissenting (and downright crazy) opinions. So if you hear anyone use the term “Fascist”, ask them what it actually means. You’ll find that they really don’t know what they’re talking about.

Socialism

OMG SOCIALISM!!!

Socialism isn’t a concrete doctrine or ideology like Communism or Fascism. It’s a set of theories of economic organization which advocate a society where the public or workers directly own and administer the means of production and its distrubtion and allocation. A socialist society is characterized by equal access to resources through an egalitarian method of compensation. Sounds nice, but once again, impractical. Human nature prevents a practical implementation of socialism. Finally I think most people are averse to a system where everything is publicly owned. People want something that they can call “theirs”. Socialism in its purest form results in Communism. Now most rational people will look at Socialism and think of it as an idea that’s nice and utopian, but ultimately impractical. Although socialism tries to address the inequalities between people, human nature will always get in the way. You either end up with free loaders living off those who work, or you end up with the ones with resources opressing everyone else. The fact remains that the United States is committed to being a capitalist nation. Forgive me for being cynical here, but the coporations and the politicians will never allow anything else. There’s simply too much money in being Capitalist. Furthermore, if you analyze the Obama administration’s policies they’re not really Socialist. They’re actually anti-worker and pro-corporate. Ironically, the final act of the Bush Administration was more Socialist than anything else: bailing out Wall Street. So if you hear more extreme right-wing nonsense about “OMG SOCIALISM”, ask them exactly what it means and how these policies are Socialist. They may come back with vague statements about how Obama is “redistributing the wealth” or “promoting Government interference” or something like that. Redistribution of wealth by itself is not a “Socialist” policy. It will alleviate some problems, but it’s not going to cause true economic change. For the United States to actually turn Socialist, a lot of things have to change. None of that is happening. The American people won’t let it happen. “Socialism”, like “Obama is Kenyan” is another red herring thrown out by the extreme-right. Rational folks, on the left and the right, don’t take such things seriously.

No government is universally accepted by the people. There are always critics and detractors. What I’m generally sad about is the current state of political debate (if it can even be called that) in our country (and it’s not limited to the current “debate”. It dates back to the early days of the Bush administration). It’s full of vitriol, fear-mongering, and hyperbole. In general I wish the media would focus on rational views from the moderate left and the moderate right. There is very real rational opposition to the Obama administration’s plans, and there are very real concerns. These are the things American people need to hear instead of garbage like “Bush planned 9/11″ or “Obama is not actually an American and he wants to kill all the old people!”.

I just heard McCain’s speech where he conceded the election to Obama. I’ve always admired Senator McCain; his (pre-campaign) moderate views have always appealed to me. I was quite touched when I heard his speech, especially on his emphasis on how all of us need to rally together as Americans (in spite of repeated booings from the audience, which he asked them to stop) behind President-elect Obama. His core message was that in spite of all our differing views and opinions, the one thing we have in common is that we are all Americans and as such we all have to work together to take this country through the difficult times it is facing.

This campaign has been a long and hard one, but at the end of it all I think we can all say that this election has been a shining example of the best system of governance in the world – democracy. I’m looking forward to the future with a lot of hope. The next four years are going to be full of change. I hope it is a change for the better and I think we can make it so if we all rally behind the President as Americans, because it’s not the President that makes America a great nation. Americans make America a great nation.

Update:
I just heard Obama’s victory speech. I wonder… will children be learning about it in school a hundred years from now? I think they will and they should be, because what I heard was that America has not lost its way. It is still a shining beacon of democracy to the world. This election just proved it.

I got a few more offers and did a few more interviews before finally accepting a position at Infusion Software. They basically write CRM (Content and Resource Management) Software for small businesses. They are a relatively new company. I have been here for a month and I’ve been loving it since my first day. The first day I walked in, they basically said “Here’s your system. Pick an OS and install it and set up your development environment”. I was like “Awesome!”. Of course, I set up PC-BSD (which is basically a FreeBSD distro). The environment at Infusion Software is very energetic and fast-paced. The demographic is also rather young. During my interview they showed me around and when I got to the developer room, they showed me a projector and said “This is where we play Halo or Guitar Hero 3 when we need to take a break”. ‘Nuff said. I’m glad everything eventually worked out. I was rather stressed after my house got wrecked, and to add to it, I got laid-off. The way my friend Suhrid puts it. “You have the weirdest luck in the world. Really bad stuff happens to you, but then something really cool happens after that to make it better than before… you got to remodel your home for a great price, and you got a better job!”

My parents came down for a month at the beginning of January. My mom’s staying behind to help me set up the house. Of course, because of that I had to tell my girlfriend that she couldn’t come over anymore (this is all true, yes it is). Oh yeah, so I’m renting out my house. My parents had bought a house here that they don’t live in. So I’ve basically moved over there. It’s a bit of a drive to places, but nothing too bad.

Oh yes, I finally got to put my citizenship to use. Yes, I voted in the primaries. I registered as Republican so I could vote for Ron Paul. Let’s just say that I believe in a lot of what he says because I identify myself as Libertarian. I know a lot of people said that he wasn’t going to win, but that wasn’t the point. This country needs to change. It’s constitutionally a multi-party system, but the only parties that matter are the Republicans and Democrats and they haven’t been doing anything for this country. The current administration has done a great job of ignoring that piece of paper this country was founded up. The subtle erosion of Civil Rights alarms me. We need to remember what this country was founded upon. Honest, law-abiding citizens should have no fear of their government. That is why I support Ron Paul. It is besides the point that he didn’t win. We need to challenge the current situation. We need to change the current situation. Of course, the idiotic media ignored Ron Paul and didn’t even talk about him. Despite that, the man was able to garner a large and loyal following through the internet. What that says is that there are people who are willing to listen and who want to listen and who want change. The sad truth is that the people with big pockets, and big media exposure get all the attention, and not the people with the good ideas. I hope that in time his ideas will prevail. I hope in time Americans will realize that this country needs to get back to its roots.

That’s about it. I’m going to try and update this blog a little more frequently, but no promises.

“Some people clearly think it’s a First Amendment issue. There is no intent from us to interfere with people’s right to discuss copy protection. We respect free speech.

“They can discuss the pros and cons. We know some people are critical of the technology.

“But a line is crossed when we start seeing keys being distributed and tools for circumvention. You step outside of the realm of protected free speech then.”

Michael Ayers, AACS

This is so much bullshit. I can’t believe that they are going to use the DMCA to stop people from publishing a number. Some people think it’s a First Amendment issue? You’re damn right it is! The DMCA is the most bullshit, unconstitutional law there is. I seriously can’t believe that it has come to this; where a body can tell you what not to say. I have every right; a right given to me by the constitution; to say what I please. The First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law restricting my freedom of speech. I know it’s not up to me to interpret the law. We have the Supreme Court Justices for that. However, I feel that prosecuting people for publishing this key sets a dangerous precedent.

This is not about piracy. This is about control. DRM is not going to stop large-scale piracy. What it does is annoy proper customers. If I buy a disc, I can do whatever I want. I can make how many ever copies I want, and play it on whatever hardware I want. I can do anything short of making copies to sell. It’s mine and I paid for it.

From the article: “The leak of the key meant that some HD-DVD titles could have their copy protection removed and then could be watched on two different software players. The leak of the key did not affect hardware players, he said.”

That’s what they don’t want. They don’t want you playing it on whatever you choose.

In some ways, this might be a good thing. Perhaps it will make the public more aware about the travesties perpetrated by these DRM groups in the name of “protecting intellectual property”. Perhaps it will make them more aware of the unconstitutionality of the DMCA. I seriously wonder how they are going to go after 700,000 people. Good luck. The more they try to silence us, the more we are going to revolt.

I remember when the DeCSS issue first surfaced. People were being sued for publishing the decryption algorithm. There were different forms of displaying the algorithm. Like, could you be sued for wearing a T-Shirt with the DeCSS code? In a similar vein, people are already finding different ways to represent the HD-DVD Processing Key (shirts, mugs, songs, videos). One of these is the Free Speech Flag (displayed below). It uses the hexadecimal codes from the processing key as hexadecimal color codes. Can we be sued for displaying that? I don’t know. I hope all of this results in a serious re-evaluation of DRM and the DMCA.

Free Speech Flag