- 31 December 2000
-
Taslima
Nasrin, a Humanist from Bangladesh, was threatened with religious
murder for criticizing such things as persecution of Hindus and the
injustice of Islamic law. She was officially charged with the crime
of ``blasphemy''. She is now in exile.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
The right to criticize, or even ridicule, any religion or religion in
general is part of human rights. No religion or church is entitled to
suppress criticism--not Islam, not the Church of Scientology, not even
the Church of Emacs.
- 31 December 2000
-
powerful companies
and institutions are grabbing domain names from their satirists,
from their fans, and from people who coincidentally use the same name.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 31 December 2000
-
The
explanation of the Supreme Court ruling against counting the votes
in Florida has been updated.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 30 December 2000
-
Deportees have been
tortured, even
killed, on Lufthansa flights, by the police in whose custody they
were being deported.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 30 December 2000
-
Deportees being flown from Europe to other countries have been
tortured by border guards while on the plane. A number of the victims
have died before getting off the plane. Some European airlines are
now refusing to carry such "passengers", but
Lufthansa
continues to seek this lucrative business.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 28 December 2000
-
Politicians, ever the servant of business, are trying
to
extend NAFTA to South America.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 28 December 2000
-
There is now a
jokes page.
- 28 December 2000
-
NAFTA has been so successful at cutting wages in the US, and
destroying working conditions in Mexico, that politicians are aiming
to
extend NAFTA to South America if we don't stop them.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 17 December 2000
-
See
explanation of
the Supreme Court decision against Gore (updated December 31).
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 17 December 2000
-
Here is an
explanation of the
Supreme Court decision that ruled against counting the votes in
Florida, with a suggestion for what to do about it.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 13 December 2000
-
Politicians' statements can become so childish that
they don't have "meanings".
- 13 December 2000
-
Do politician's comments refer to a reality? Do they "mean"
anything?
Nowadays, some politicians don't see a need for that.
- 12 December 2000
-
Added a link to
Billionaires for
Bush (or Gore).
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 12 December 2000
-
Billionaires
for Bush (or Gore) urged people to vote for either George Bush or
Al Gore. "We don't care which, we already bought both of them."
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 19 November 2000
-
Help save
Younus Shaikh from being prosecuted and possibly executed for
"blasphemy".
- 19 November 2000
-
In late 2000 I learned that a leading Pakistani rationalist,
Dr. Younus Shaikh, is being prosecuted for blasphemy, a crime that
carries a death sentence in Pakistan. The hysteria was such that for
a long time he could not find a lawyer willing to defend him.
This case is likely to continue for a long time. Please
help Dr. Shaikh by writing to the government of Pakistan to
express your concern about the case.
- 18 November 2000
-
Pacifica Radio is threatening to censor and perhaps eliminate the
program
Democracy Now.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 18 November 2000
-
In November 2000, Democracy Now! -- Pacifica Radio's national news
magazine and an important source of alternative news and views on many
issues -- was under threat from Pacifica's management. Learn more at
http://www.fair.org/activism/democracy-now.html.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 16 November 2000
-
Help the
Free Burma
Coalition establish trade sanctions on the Burmese military
regime.
- 16 November 2000
-
The
Free Burma
Coalition asking Americans in November 2000 to write to President
Clinton asking him to ban imports of garments from Burma. These
garments Burma exports are made in factories run by the military
dictatorship, using effectively slave labor.
- 3 November 2000
-
Korea proposes
regulation of the Internet and does it badly.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 3 November 2000
-
The Korean government is proposing a law to
regulate the Internet in
Korea, which would impose censorship rules and is bad
for citizens' privacy.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 31 October 2000
-
Increase Nader's vote without helping Bush.
See
www.nadertrader.org.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 31 October 2000
-
The
US Constitution is illegal!
- 8 October 2000
-
Prohibit hemp products just to make drug tests reliable?
See
www.savehemp.org.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 8 October 2000
-
Added another filksong,
Bardic Circle.
- 8 October 2000
-
The DEA is planning to
prohibit
hemp-based products such as soap, which are not drugs at all, on
the grounds that they interfere with drug tests for marijuana. This
shows how sick and twisted the war on drugs is making the US: even the
tools of enforcement are now considered more important than mere daily
life. (Whatever drugs that war is on must be very dangerous.)
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
Please visit the site for the campaign to block these regulations,
www.SaveHemp.org, and please help
and inform others.
(I received an
interesting letter
in response to this issue.)
- 2 September 2000
-
The
Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility is having its annual conference in Pennsylvania,
Oct 14-15. Its theme is ``Reconstructing Privacy in the Information
Age''.
- 2 September 2000
-
Americans United for the Separation of
Church and State chided Senator Lieberman, the Democratic
candidate for vice president, for extremely religious campaign
rhetoric.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 2 September 2000
-
Americans United for the Separation of
Church and State has chided Senator Lieberman, the Democratic
candidate for vice president, for extremely religious campaign
rhetoric, injecting religion into the campaign in a way we would
normally expect only from right-wing fundamentalists.
Americans United sent Lieberman an
open letter asking him to
ask voters to consider his record, not his religion.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
I've been a member of Americans United for several years.
- 27 August 2000
-
Could the
attack on Pearl Harbor
have been predicted the previous day?
- 15 August 2000
-
I have endorsed
Ralph Nader
for President of the US.
- 15 August 2000
-
An idea for how to
eliminate bank
surveillance of depositors in the US.
- 15 August 2000
-
In 1999 the US Congress proposed a law requiring every bank to
establish a ``know your customer'' program to report all unusual
deposits to the government--in effect, snooping on the customer.
When combined with the practice known as ``civil forfeiture'', which
means that the government can seize ``suspicious'' assets without even
having a trial, these programs actually threaten to take away your
bank account.
Strong public opposition blocked that bill, and ``know your customer''
programs did not become mandatory. But over 80 percent of US banks
have them voluntarily. That is better than 100 percent, but not good.
I have an idea for how to bring about some change in this. It
involves setting up a web site where people can record which banks
have these programs and which do not. People can ask their own banks,
and then record the answers.
Then people who don't want the extra risk of civil forfeiture, or
object to big-brotherism, can use the data base to find a local bank
which doesn't squeal on its law-abiding customers--and move their
deposits to that bank.
I don't have time to set this up, and I don't know how either. But I
hope I can get someone else interested. If you are interested in
setting this up, and you know how, please send me mail. (People are
working on this now, so if you want to help, please contact me rather
than starting on your own.)
- 25 July 2000
-
The
Consumer Project on Technology
is organizing an
Open Access protest in
Washington DC, Thursday July 27. The issue will surely continue
to be important past that date.
- 25 July 2000
-
There will be an
Open Access protest in
Washington DC, Thursday July 27.
- 19 July 2000
-
Alongside the Republican and Democratic political conventions in 2000,
there were
"shadow
conventions" sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, calling
for an end to the War on Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
If you think a drug is dangerous, you can avoid the risk by not using
it. But you cannot avoid the many dangers of the War on Drugs--a
million Americans in prison (largely for nonviolent "possession of
drugs" crimes), no money for education because prison comes first, our
police corrupted, and our civil liberties undermined.
- 19 July 2000
-
The Marijuana Policy Project is organizing
shadow conventions
calling for an end to the War on Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 10 July 2000
-
Another
song parody.
- 9 July 2000
-
China photos from
May/June 2000.
- 30 June 2000
-
Funny poems and song parodies.
- 25 June 2000
-
A Korean protest parody site has been shut down as a copyright
violation. The site was set up by workers who were fired, and then
not rehired despite a court order to rehire them. Eventually they set
up a protest parody site criticizing the employer, POSCO. POSCO sued
them for copyright infringement and succeeded, forcing their site to
be taken down. Now there is a world-wide campaign to set up mirrors
of the site. I have set up a
mirror as part
of this campaign.
- 25 June 2000
-
An
Anti-POSCO mirror.
- 22 June 2000
-
You might enjoy
Ask
Dr Laura
that is floating around on the net.
- 13 May 2000
-
On April 25, 2000, the
Marijuana Policy
Project reported that Hawaii has enacted a law removing criminal
penalties for medical use of marijuana (which can help cancer patients
tolerate the harsh side effects of many cancer treatments).
For some 20 years the U.S. has been the target of a crazed War on
Drugs. Around a million people are in prison in the U.S. today for
drug-related "crimes". Often the crime was simply to sell or use
drugs--activities that would not be crimes at all if we end this war.
Sometimes the crime was an act of violence--which should be a crime,
but typically would not have happened if prohibition did not
drive the drug trade into the hands of gangsters. (In the 1920s, the
illegal sellers of alcohol committed many notorious violent
crimes--but today's brewers, distilleries and liquor stores are
law-abiding.) Our civil liberties are constantly threatened by plans
to make this war "more effective".
When a war is on drugs, it tends to forget who the enemy is, and
attack citizens indiscriminately. Let's get the war off
drugs.
- 13 May 2000
-
The
Marijuana Policy
Project has a success in Hawaii.
- 13 May 2000
-
Photos of my visit to Brazil
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
- 28 April 2000
-
Phone-In Sick day (political notes)
If you work for the corporate world, you may be interested in
celebrating
Phone In Sick
Day on May 1.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
RTMark explains the holiday this way:
-
To bring an important American holiday back home.
Mayday commemorates ten Americans who lost their lives fighting for
the eight-hour [work] day, and their sacrifice has been celebrated since
1889 nearly everywhere in the world *except* America.
-
To call attention to the loss of the eight-hour day and other
quality-of-life indices in America.
Mayday heralds the approach of summer, a time that still means
"vacation" to those in most First-World nations. But substantial
vacations, like the eight-hour day, have passed into American
leisure history. While the average number of hours worked per year
has gone down throughout the First World, it has gone up in America,
with Americans now working six weeks more per year than they did in
1973 to achieve the same standard of living. Phoning in sick en masse
will function as a "mayday" distress call by increasingly harried
Americans. (Visit
http://rtmark.com/sickday.html to see Andrei
Codrescu explain this most eloquently.)
[Reference updated on 2017-12-20 because the
old link was broken.]
[rms note: We used to expect technology to provide increased leisure
time. I believe it could, if society were not dominated by business and
business owners.]
-
To call attention to the dwindling quality of life everywhere.
The erosion of leisure is no longer limited to America. As European
countries are increasingly forced to dismantle social programs and
adopt American-style measures to benefit corporate health, we can be
sure that they will all go the way of the United States: two-month
vacations will shrink to two weeks, maternity leave will go from six
months to five days, etc. Therefore RTMark encourages Europeans, and
other First Worlders for whom May 1 is already a holiday, to phone
in sick on May 2. (In the Third World, of course, the effects of
neoliberalism are unspeakably worse than a mere erosion of leisure;
it would be tasteless to suggest that phoning in sick might
accomplish anything there.)
- 22 April 2000
-
Waiting for the Knock
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