John Stewart on Crossfire

Okay, chances are good that you've seen it already, but if you haven't, download the video of John Stewart on Crossfire. And if you like what he's done (and I certainly do) contact Comedy Central and CNN (Crossfire) and tell them so!

United States Indymedia!

Just a quick link!

Oh, and the Lost Highway Times on the State.

Indymedia Update

So, the Indymedia servers have apparently been returned, but there is still a lack of knowledge concerning why they servers were taken and the matter of the subpeona, legality, etc. Anyway, the Indymedia have begun a Solidarity Petition to express outrage and attempt to learn why the servers were taken.

I'll take this chance to remind everyone that a government which hides things from its own People is trending towards fascism (regardless of its "justifications"). And, further, that all governments reach a state where they wish to hide things from their own People, eventually.

Voting

Well, it's getting to be that time again. I recieved my absentee (aka mail-in) ballot on Saturday, and just today got around to taking a look at it (I have not yet voted at a polling place). I was extremely surprised to see, not 2, nor 4 (D, R, G and L) candidates for president, but 12, including an independent and three socialist candidates! I'm also somewhat disturbed that I have heard of none of these candidates except for Kerry, Bush, Nader, Badnarik and Cobb, and the last two through a fluke! It was also nice to see a number of (okay, four) Libertarian Candidates in various races (President, Senate, House Dist. 2, CU Regent At Large). I don't completely agree with them, but I do think they're on the right track.

In the meantime, I have yet to decide on several of the ballot issues. Some are easy: yes on 36 and Referendum B, as well as 4A and 4B (FasTracks and SCFD, respectively). But some of the others I still haven't decided on. For example, amendment 37, concerning renewable energy. I fully support renewable energy, but reading Norm Olsen and the Libertarian party's position on the amendments has made me wonder whether it's the right method to take. Fortunately, I have some time yet before I must mail my ballot in, so I can consider the proposals more carefully.

That's about all for now. This is my 100th post, btw.

In Echo

In Echo of a friend's LJ post, I present "Meh":

Middle ground
Not up nor down
Emotions have no grip

And though I'd like
to feel some
Through my fingers they do slip

I try to care
I really do
But nothing matters much

No pain no worries
No joy or cheer
To my "meh"-state do I clutch

Third-party candidates arrested

From Mellifluous:

On October 8th at 9PM, two third party candidates were arrested for attempting to enter the Washington University complex holding the second presidential debate. The candidates, Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party and David Cobb of the Green Party, chose civil disobedience to fight the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Over half of Americans believe third party candidates should be included, yet politicians continue to funnel public funds into the bi-partisan Commission. S.W.A.T. teams were used to deny the will of the American people while mainstream media ignored this historic event, a shameless suppression of political diversity.
Americans deserve to know about the unjust takeover of our political process. I posted this to take matters into my own hands. If you believe that real democracy thrives on diverse political voices and that it's time to use alternative methods to support these voices, post this in your Xanga, profile, or Livejournal, or e-mail it to those who care.

I would also suggest that you read the Badnarik blog and the Press Release.

I should probably write some commentary on the whole episode. If what's written in the Badnarik blog is true, then it's disgraceful, but again, not unexpected. I applaud Badnarik and Cobb's civil disobedience, even though I don't agree (necessarily) with all their politics. But, that's part of the point: I don't really know much about their politics, and exluding them from the debates is just another way to ensure that the only choice I have in the matter (not that such a thing as government should exist, but that's beside the point; it does) is between the Republicrat and the Democratan.

Quick Update

Hey there everyone.

Feeling quite a bit better today.

Sorry, last night was kinda bad.

I like writing one-sentence paragraphs.

Will somebody please fucking TOUCH ME?!?

Not much to say with this one. Frustrated and lonely. Last night, I thought that I had a date in a week. Thought I might be headed towards something. Tonight, no. He is apparently already seeing someone. Fuck. Nice of him to mention this before. Not just seeing someone, but it's a long-distance relationship. No one I know well enough to consider seriously as a boyfriend is even remotely interested in me. No one else in their right mind would consider dating me before they got to know me, at which point they would not be interested anymore.

One person. One, and he's in Cali. One that I've never met, and, though I may like to pretend differently, don't really know all that well.

I don't understand it. The conclusion that I reach is that something must be wrong with me. (DON"T FUCKING GIVE ME YOUR PITY! I don't want it. I don't know what I want for certain but I don't want that) But figuring out what is wrong is... difficult. I don't understand it. I could ask people but even if they gave me something useful, I don't think it'd make a difference. I don't think that I can change it, or that I'd even want to.

I had hoped that this would be a more stream-of-consciousness post, but I find that I'm censoring myself, so I'm done for now.

FBI Seizes IMC Servers in the UK

From the Indymedia:

Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet.

Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Talking to Indymedia volunteers, Rackspace stated that "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the concerned parties on what is happening.

It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is outside the US jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.

At the same time an additional server was taken down at Rackspace which provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG (linux distro), and a handful of miscellanous things.

The last few months have seen numerous attacks on independent media by the US Federal Government. In August the Secret Service used a subpoena in an attempt to disrupt the NYC IMC before the RNC by trying to get IP logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the FCC shut down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI requested that Indymedia takes down a post on the Nantes IMC that had a photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle were visited by the FBI on the same issue. On the other hand, Indymedia and other independent media organisations were successfull with their victories for example against Diebold and the Patroit Act. Today however, the US authorities shut down IMCs around the world.

The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site.

Crazy Electrical Storms!

I figured that, since everyone else mentioned it, I would be wrong not to mention the huge freaking storm last night that is completely out of season. Lost power at least once, but mostly I slept through it. I guess I'm just boring like that.

Met two new people at the GSA office during lunch today: Dillon and Angi. Angi seems nice, though truth be told I was doing my homework and didn't speak much with her. Dillon is cute, but I didn't speak much with him, either, before he left, so I don't really know anything about him, either.

No repsonse yet from Nathan.

I'd like to point y'all to some more blogs, if I may. There's an interesting post about Meritocracy vs Timeserving on Lost Highway Times. Also, and you will notice I've added three new links to the sidebar. Anarchoblogs is an aggregate of blogs run by anarchists (which you NEVER would guess from the title), the Indymedia are a worldwide, loosely grouped but highly connected Independent Media Centers, run with the general idea that you are the media. The Colorado Indymedia is the local group.

That's all. Rehearsal tonight for the dance on Saturday.

Dell

Just a quick note:

I ordered a refurbished laptop from Dell in august, and had been unsuccessfully trying to get it to run X under linux since then. About a week ago, I discovered that the reason I couldn't get X to work was that the card I thought the machine had - the nVidia card listed on my order sheet - was not the one that was actually in the machine - an XGI Volari. Naturally, I was somewhat annoyed about this, since there aren't any Linux drivers for the Volari (at least, not the mobile ones). So, I contacted Dell Customer Care yesterday, and they are going to actually ship me (for free!) the correct nVidia card. Wow! We'll wait until we see whether it works, but this could earn them some good marks from me.