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Illegal File Sharing: My Right, My Duty

One of the gifts of the Information Superhighway is the ability to digitally render and share binary information. You have almost certainly seen the downright threatening commercials, on the television and on the Internet, all but telling you that you'll go to jail if you visit certain websites or connect to certain servers. Not only is the idea of censoring the Internet unconstitutional, but it is political as well.

It is a very select group of political lobbyists and corporations who are pushing for laws which would make going to a certain website a felony. What these activists all have in common is: They are all left-wing nutjobs and are tied to the music/movie-making industry. Every day, they rip off consumers, offering a product which is rarely satisfactory, in order to make a select few rich. The problem is, these select few people are using their fortune to back Democrat politicians during elections, and produce Anti-Bush media. While it may be their right to do so, they will not be able to if they don't have the money to do it.

Picture this: 5 years from now, someone found a way to reproduce a kind of artificial gold which had the exact molecular properties of real gold. This causes the value of gold to plummet. The gold industry sues the makers of artificial gold, claiming that they are stealing profits. But that is the nature of certain markets. Sometimes, certain products and services become obsolete because people find new, more efficient way of doing things, using new products and methods. Another great example is the washboard. People stopped using it upon the advent of the automatic washer. The smart people in the washboard industry quickly stopped making washboards and started making automatic washers. That's the beautiful thing about Capitalism. If the government were to intervene and arrest everyone who went up against a certain industry to start another, our economy would collapse, and this would no longer be a Capitalist system. What I just described is an perfect analogy to what's happening with the Internet and the entertainment industry.

An online poll revealed that 99% of Internet users supported piracy, and that most of the 1% who didn't either worked for the music industry, or felt intimidated by the Movie Picture Association of America's idle threats.

The ability to transfer and record information digitally has only served to expose the lack of entertainment being done by the entertainment industry. And the last time I checked, when a company charges money to do a service they don't actually do, IT IS CALLED FRAUD. Which, unlike digital "piracy", is a crime.

Should there ever be a day when the MPAA gets their way, we as citizens must do everything in our power to resist laws passed which are violations of our privacy rights. It's the libertarian thing to do, it's the Capitalist thing to do, and it's the right thing to do.

Post Script:

I use an excellent program called BitTorrent to download my digital media. Specifically, I use a variant called BitComet. If you do not already use this system, I highly recommend you download BitComet, and make use of the wikipedia to learn how to operate it. For the most part, it's self-explanitory. Once you have the program, you should bookmark isohunt.com, and torrentspy.com, two great sites for downloading the corresponding "torrent files" which work with BitComet. If anyone needs help getting started on the system, I'd be glad to give tutorials. Happy downloading!

The Scourge of Political Correctness

Does anyone know the origins of Political Correctness? Who originally developed it and what was its purpose?

I looked it up. It was developed at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany, which was founded in 1923 and came to be known as the "Frankfurt School." It was a group of thinkers who pulled together to find a solution to the biggest problem facing the implementers of communism in Russia.

The problem? Why wasn't communism spreading?

Their answer? Because Western Civilization was in its way.

What was the problem with Western Civilization? Its belief in the individual, that an individual could develop valid ideas. At the root of communism was the theory that all valid ideas come from the effect of the social group of the masses. The individual is nothing.

And they believed that the only way for communism to advance was to help (or force, if necessary) Western Civilization to destroy itself. How to do that? Undermine its foundations by chipping away at the rights of those annoying individuals.

One way to do that? Change their speech and thought patterns by spreading the idea that vocalizing your beliefs is disrespectful to others and must be avoided to make up for past inequities and injustices.

And call it something that sounds positive: "Political Correctness."

Inspired by the brand new communist technique, Mao, in the 1930s, wrote an article on the "correct" handling of contradictions among the people. "Sensitive training" – sound familiar? – and speech codes were born.

In 1935, after Hitler came to power, the Frankfurt School moved to New York City, where they continued their work by translating Marxism from economic to cultural terms using Sigmund Freud's psychological conditioning mechanisms to get Americans to buy into Political Correctness. In 1941, they moved to California to spread their wings.

But Political Correctness remains just what it was intended to be: a sophisticated and dangerous form of censorship and oppression, imposed upon the citizenry with the ultimate goal of manipulating, brainwashing and destroying our society.

PC Cuba

My first conscious exposure to Political Correctness was in 1959 – the first year of Castro's revolution in Cuba – while attending an indoctrination session at a neighborhood elementary school in Havana. There I learned for the first time of the claimed superiority of life in the Soviet Union vs. the U.S.

There I also learned that the word "compañero" (filtered version of the communist "comrade" – Fidel was denying his communist preferences) was the correct way to refer to the other members of the new Cuban society-in-the-making.

Mr., Mrs. and Miss were no longer acceptable, and their further use could reveal that you were not a Fidelista. Since repression and violations of human rights came roaring in right behind Castro's sweep down from the mountains in 1959, objection or rejection of Fidel Castro's revolution would (and still will) land you in a lot of trouble. You could easily lose your life in those summary executions at La Cabaña prison under the direction of Che Guevara.

But don't worry about Che. Che was later transformed and cleansed by the masters of Political Correctness. His likeness became a revered icon of the far left, with T-shirts and posters still adorning the campuses of America.

The same techniques were used to cleanse one of today's "heroes," Mumia Abu-Jamal (even if he was convicted, by overwhelming evidence, of killing a cop).

And under the pervasive guidance of Political Correctness that took hold from elementary school to university, from the media to the arts, from the country fields to factories and offices, Cubans learned to say what it was safe to say. Always in line with the overpowering state. Always following the dictums of the only political party left: the Communist Party.

The self-censorship resulting from Political Correctness easily trampled freedom of speech. Political Correctness has succeeded in Cuba by creating a uniform political discourse that has lasted for 43 years.

Political Correctness has given the state (Castro) complete control of speech. That is the main reason why the U.S. media cannot extract the truth of what Cubans really feel when they interview regular citizens and deceptively present their comments as valid to the American public.

The same was true in the former Soviet Union and the former satellite countries. The same continues in the remaining communist world.

It's nothing new. The U.S. media must know that, so why don't they openly report that fact instead of misleading the public? Perhaps that is the reason why the American people are so uneducated about the Cuban tragedy and acted regrettably during the Elian Gonzalez affair.

The PC U.S.

With profound dismay, I have seen how the scourge of Political Correctness has taken hold in the U.S. It is very well entrenched in our educational system, at scientific, religious and community levels, the media, the workplace and even our government.

It is changing the American society from within, and the citizens of this nation are increasingly censoring themselves and losing their freedom of speech out of fear of Political Correctness repression.

It is the nature of Western Civilization to be civilized – respectful of others and concerned with correcting injustices. We don't need Political Correctness to make us think we are not civilized on our own and must have our thoughts and words restricted.

In December 2001, in Kensington, Md., an annual firefighters Santa Claus festivity to light the Christmas tree was objected to by two families. The city council, in the name of Political Correctness, voted to ban Santa from the parade. Fortunately, due to citizen outcry, the decision was reversed in the end and many people protested by dressing up as Santa.

Logically and respectfully, how can one person's benign icon be objectionable to the point of banishment? Offer to add other people's icons. Make it a broader celebration. That's the Perfectly Correct American way.

The rulers of Political Correctness reach absurd levels when they refer to the betrayal of America by the spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – executed in 1953 – as "non-traditional patriotism"!

We see shameful situations created in our schools and universities in America that have fallen prey to Political Correctness. Some professors, students and publications are being attacked for expressing a point of view that differs from that imposed by a fanatical far left, under the guise of Political Correctness.

In schools and workplaces we see that "diversity" has degenerated into reverse discrimination, where often the less qualified are admitted and the incompetent cannot be fired. We have seen characters like Rev. Jesse Jackson shamelessly blackmailing and threatening to boycott entire corporations if they don't hire those selected by him or simply make "donations" to his organizations.

The Double Standard Emerges

Our Constitution requires the separation of church and state, which has always discouraged our public education system from teaching religion. However, in December 2001, while Christmas cards, symbols and decorations were being objected to for the first time in American public schools in Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Oregon, in an elementary school in Texas, a girl was allowed to give to her classmates an overview and show a video about her Muslim religion.

And in January 2002, a public middle school in San Luis Obispo, Calif., had its students pretend to be warriors fighting for Islam. Another school near Oakland, Calif., also encouraged 125 seventh-grade students to dress up in Muslim robes for a three-week course on Islam.

This arbitrary double standard was applied in the name of Political Correctness following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

According to Ellen Sorokin's "No Founding Fathers?" published by the Washington Times on its front page on Jan. 28, 2002, even our Founding Fathers have fallen victim to the travesty. The article says of the New Jersey Department of Education's history standards,

"The latest revisions to the state standards have disappointed educators across the country, who said the board's exclusion of the Founding Fathers' names is 'Political Correctness to the nth degree.' "

Sorokin points out that "the standards specifically note that students should identify slavery, the Holocaust and modern Iraq as examples in which 'people have behaved in cruel and inhumane ways.' " Conveniently, communism is absent from that short list.

In another article by Sorokin, published by the Washington Times on March 10, "Report Blames Anti-Americanism on College Teachers," she presents two examples of upcoming courses for next spring and fall. They are " 'The Sexuality of Terrorism' at University of California at Hayward; and 'Terrorism and the Politics of Knowledge' at UCLA, a class that, according to its course description, examines 'America's record of imperialistic adventurism.' "

Recently, a historic photograph of the New York firefighters raising the American flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center was going to be made into a sculpture as a memorial.

But history's revisionists used Political Correctness to dictate that other minority faces replace some of the faces in the historical photograph! Fortunately, in the end that didn't fly either, due to the outcry of firefighters and the public.

The Goal of the PC Dictators

For people with the background and firsthand experience of living inside a totalitarian communist society, the tilt and goal of the dictators of Political Correctness in America are obvious.

The beneficiaries in the end will be the fanatic believers in the totalitarian state, who, in spite of the dismal failure of communism and the 100 million people exterminated pursuing that criminal system, have not given up.

Political and religious fanatics, as demonstrated by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the subsequent war in Afghanistan, are extremely dangerous in today's world.

All citizens who cherish liberty must reject the scourge of Political Correctness. Freedom of speech must be preserved in America if we are to continue to be free.

Let's say it: Castro is not a 'president,' as the U.S. media's Political Correctness calls him. Castro has not been democratically elected to anything in Cuba. The correct word to define him is 'tyrant.' He is not just a 'leader,' as the U.S. media also calls him. He is more of a criminal Mafioso-type character.

Why criminal? Because he has caused the deaths of more than 100,000 Cubans. Thousands have died through his support of guerrillas in Central and South America. Thousands of blacks were killed by Castro's soldiers in Africa. Castro in the 1980s introduced the use of bacteriological weapons to kill blacks in Angola.

How many thousands have died in America as a result of his drug trafficking into the U.S.? How many thousands have died all over the world due to terrorists trained in Castro's Cuba?

Former Soviet colonel Ken Alibek, who defected to America, was once in charge of the Soviet Union's production of biological weapons. In Alibek's 1999 book, "Biohazard," he revealed that with the help of the Soviet Union, in the 1980s Cuba created laboratories to produce chemical and bacteriological weapons of mass destruction – just 90 miles from U.S. shores.

The information about Castro's involvement with bacteriological weapons also comes from various independent sources. We must not forget either that Cuba is on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist nations.

Why Mafioso? Well, Castro is like an untouchable godfather, surrounded by bodyguards and thugs and a private army of about 40,000 soldiers for his personal protection (roughly the size of the entire army of Cuba prior to 1959).

He stole foreign and national properties in Cuba. He has become one of the richest men in the world, according to Forbes magazine. He has created a despotic and corrupt elite to exploit the Cuban people and keep himself in power. He has made the Cuban people hostages and slaves of his corrupt regime.

The U.S. media do not call Al Capone "the former leader" of the Italian Mafia. Why the double standard with Fidel and other far-left regimes? The answer can be traced to where the sympathies lie – with the elite dictating Political Correctness in America.

It's one thing is to be educated, considerate, polite and have good manners, and another to be forced to self-censor and say things that are totally incorrect in order to comply with the arbitrary dictums of a deceiving and fanatical far-left agenda.

Let's preserve our freedom and say NO to the scourge of Political Correctness.

The Moral Emptiness of the Left

Life consists of choices, and no choice is graver than war or peace. The 9/11 assault on New York City and Washington, D.C. posed such a choice. Should we go to war against bin Laden and the Taliban? The answer had to be “Yes” or “No.” Those who deny that the President of the United States was confronted with that choice are not morally serious. They do not live in this world.

In the days after 9/11 it was clear that no criminal prosecution could work, because the Taliban baldly lied to the world about hiding al Qaeda and bin Laden. Thus the only choices for the United States were to do nothing, or to change the Taliban regime to get at al Qaeda. Doing nothing would have rendered us more of a target. Thus the war in Afghanistan was the moral choice to make—indeed, the only moral choice. The alternative to fighting and killing—remember, this is the real world—was helplessness.

In this world, helpless superpowers are just shark bait. We fought, and we were right to fight.

Once the Taliban were thrown out, the Administration faced another hard choice. Two hateful regimes were known to support the kind of terrorism that endangered this country. Dealing with them was going to be much more difficult. Saddam Hussein’s regime was so thoroughly permeated by lies and fear among its own denizens that gaining clear intelligence was simply impossible. Certainty about Saddam’s WMDs was just as illusory as certainty about the exact nature of his relationship with al Qaeda. Even insiders to Saddam’s hall of mirrors were kept in ignorance – that’s how he ruled, by sowing confusion, terror and lies.

Yet no sane person could doubt that Saddam had terrorist connections, and that he tried to get his hands on nukes as far back as the late 1970s, when his first nuclear reactor was built by the French. So the question had to be faced: Is Afghanistan enough? Or should we also knock down Saddam?

Now this is the real world—not the dream world of those who believe they know all the answers. The United States faced another agonizing choice, where every avenue had its risks. Knocking over Saddam was full of danger and a failure to act was also dangerous. Passivity wouldn’t fix this. Pacifism wouldn’t solve it. You had to do something or get off the pot. Either way you could be wrong.

The idea that the Administration twisted intelligence about Saddam is grotesque—because US intelligence has never been able to pinpoint hidden WMDs. On nukes the CIA has been consistently wrong, ever since it was stunned by Stalin’s atmospheric nuclear explosions in the 1950s. Stalin had spies like Klaus Fuchs high in the Manhattan Project, simply stealing our bomb designs. The Soviets could therefore build their nukes much faster than we expected.

That’s the record: The CIA failed to pinpoint WMD programs in the case of Stalin and Mao, and decades later with Libya, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Iraq, and now presumably Iran. Who needs to twist intelligence if it won’t tell you anything anyway? It is pure delirium from the fever swamps, and of course it evades what adults know all too well: that we are forced as moral actors to make choices in the face of unavoidable gaps in our knowledge. Harvard Business School calls it decision-making under conditions of uncertainty. Or as Joan Rivers used to say, “Oh, grow up!”

Our top decision makers therefore have to act in the absence of perfect knowledge. The inherent uncertainty about WMDs set the pattern for the Cold War. That is why Mutually Assured Destruction became a necessity: because we could not predict a massive ICBM attack and act to prevent it. Kremlinologists used to try to read the latest power-shifts in Moscow by looking at news photos of Breznhev’s pudgy apparatchiks in their fur hats and greatcoats, waving from the top of Lenin’s Tomb. That became a joke during the Cold War because they always got it wrong.

Well, here we are again. Uncertainty applies just as much to Islamofascist threats. Everything we do (or fail to do) involves gambles. And as much as the higher-ups of the CIA deserve criticism for constantly back-stabbing the Bush Administration, they cannot be blamed for failing to penetrate what Winston Churchill called “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” No intelligence agency can simply use magic to pull reliable facts from a welter of imponderables. It hasn’t been done. It probably can’t be done. You certainly can’t bet your country on it.

The Left, the media, and the Democrats are still steeped in denial of those simple, stubborn facts. Maybe reality is just too frightening for them. Whatever it is, to live in such denial is to surrender any claim to moral seriousness. It utterly disqualifies one to be a decision maker. We can thank our lucky stars that Bush, Blair and Cheney are adults.

So we are left with the Cheney Criterion: If there is a one percent chance that leaving Saddam in power would subject the West to nuclear terrorism, we would choose to change his bloody regime. The US and UK acted in the full knowledge that we might be wrong about our facts about a closed regime—and if we were, we would be screamed at for years and years by the International Left—the New York Times, the WaPo, KozKidz, the Guardian, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and all the yellow bellies in Europe.

Bush, Blair and Cheney did not have the luxury of pretending that hard choices can be wished away. That is what Harry Truman meant about the buck stopping here, in the Oval Office.

The greatest disappointment since 9/11/01 has been the total moral vacuity of the Left—a complete and utter nullity—both here and in Europe. Today, five years later, psychological denial still rules the day, and the few Democrats who raise their heads above the screaming mob are chased out, like Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller.

One-third of American voters are still being suckered by the left-wing media, who live in some sort of Toon-Town where you can Have your Cake and Eat it Too, where Lunches are Free and Health Care is Too, and where there are no ideological killer movements in this world, and to achieve World Peace you just have to point your finger at the “Warmongers” and scream really loud. The Left is now populated by “mewling, puking infants,” as William Shakespeare put it, utterly lacking an understanding of the world as it is.

It is a sad sight to behold. We need unity, not denial. As it is, the Left has become a Fifth Column, fighting the civilized world and busily explaining away danger. The New York Times can get away with sabotaging our fight for survival against the worst fascist movement since you-know-who. The Left is even descending to Nazi slogans and scapegoating Jews. A generation ago, who would have believed it?

Yet the world keeps moving. Yesterday’s decisions are past, and we have to live with their consequences. It is five years since the outrages of 9/11. The elected Iraqi government has Saddam on trial in Baghdad, but Iran is speeding toward nuclear weapons. For almost three decades the Mullahs have been shouting “Death to Israel! Death to America!” at the top of their lungs—- ever since a feckless Jimmy Carter allowed Khomeini to take over the geostrategic fulcrum of ancient Persia.

And liberals are still telling us that Tehran doesn’t really mean it. How do they know that?

In the loudmouth department Ahmadinejad even out-does Saddam. The AP just quoted him as saying:

“You must bow down to the greatness of the Iranian nation … If you do not return to monotheism and worshipping god and refuse to accept justice then you will burn in the fire of the nations’ fury”, Ahmadinejad said.

“I officially announce that Iran has joined the world’s nuclear countries.”

We can forget about national unity in facing Tehran, too. The demented Left will never understand that we must make our choices—again—with gaps in our knowledge. Because the Mullahs are expert at psychological warfare—lying—we will not know what decisions are right for a long time. All we know for sure is that the mewling, puking infants of the Left will blame any adults in sight, for the anxieties of having to live in the real world.

And yet, who would choose to put the screaming infants in charge?