DUBAI PORTS DEAL EXPOSES RIAA TREACHERY

According to an article "When Americans No Longer Own America
by Thom Hartmann, reprinted below,

"US Government statistics indicate the following percentages of foreign
ownership of American industry:

---------------Sound recording industries - 97%"--------------------

Therefore, as I have stated many times, the "Recording Industry Association of
America" or RIAA is a sham. It represents German, Japanese, English and Canadian
interests, and approximately 3% of American interests, according to the article
below. And this is not a new trend It started in the 1980's when the great
American record business was sold piece by piece. to Sony, Bertlesman, Siemans,
Phillips, et. al. It was mostly foreign by 1993, when the NII white paper was
drafted, by the mod 199O's when the Telecommunications act and Digital Millenium
copyright Act was passed.

Then ...

- Why was it appointed BY STATUTE (the Digital Millenium Copyright Act) to divvy
up all the money coming into webcasting industry?:
- Why was it allowed to set up Sound Exchange, the new digital collection
society? -
- How did it get an antitrust examption?
- Why is a foreign organization lobbying to re-write copyright laws?
- Why is a foreign organization suing thousands of Americans in Federal Court
for downloading intangible sound files, and being allowed to run it like a
collection agency?
- Why haven't top leaders been investigated for antitrust violations or even
incarcerated?

The Dubai Ports incident can be the catalyst for exposing the very unAmerican
RIAA.

Where is HUAC when we need it! Why does this country chase out men like Howard
Hughes and Preston Tucker, yet reward foreign business intriguers like Rupert
Murdoch? Who doesn't want steel or Jazz produced in this country anymore? Maybe
a little isolationism would be a good thing.

It cannot be a good thing to let foreign dominated trade associations dictate
sweeping amendments to American copyright law. And beware of anyone who wants to
harmonize copyright law with WIPO. They cannot imagine why America would want to produce steel, either. There seems to be a master plan to replace wage and hour benefits and rape pensions, and replace them with non-US low cost substitutes. I know , I know, globalization is inevitable.

But when we can't give a copy of a funny TV show or song to a friend, or make a copy for our own use without breaking some foreign born copyright amendment, our thoughts and ideas are being controlled from abroad. Copyright is, after all the expression of ideas, and must always be limited, something that the new "content" onwers have missed.

They have different political theories ands constitutions to contend with after all. The concept of the Copyright clause of Article I clause 8 being a limitation, rather than a grant, is foreign to a foreigner.
______________________________________


_________________________
Published on Monday, February 27, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
When Americans No Longer Own America
by Thom Hartmann


The Dubai Ports World deal is waking Americans up to a painful reality: So-called "conservatives" and "flat world" globalists have bankrupted our nation for their own bag of silver, and in the process are selling off America.

Through a combination of the "Fast Track" authority pushed for by Reagan and GHW Bush, sweetheart trade deals involving "most favored nation status" for dictatorships like China, and Clinton pushing us into NAFTA and the WTO (via GATT), we've abandoned the principles of tariff-based trade that built American industry and kept us strong for over 200 years.

The old concept was that if there was a dollar's worth of labor in a pair of shoes made in the USA, and somebody wanted to import shoes from China where there may only be ten cents worth of labor in those shoes, we'd level the playing field for labor by putting a 90-cent import tariff on each pair of shoes. Companies could choose to make their products here or overseas, but the ultimate cost of labor would be the same.

Then came the flat-worlders, led by misguided true believers and promoted by multinational corporations. Do away with those tariffs, they said, because they "restrain trade." Let everything in, and tax nothing. The result has been an explosion of cheap goods coming into our nation, and the loss of millions of good manufacturing jobs and thousands of manufacturing companies. Entire industry sectors have been wiped out.

These policies have kneecapped the American middle class. Our nation's largest employer has gone from being the unionized General Motors to the poverty-wages Wal-Mart. Americans have gone from having a net savings rate around 10 percent in the 1970s to a minus .5 percent in 2005 - meaning that they're going into debt or selling off their assets just to maintain their lifestyle.

At the same time, federal policy has been to do the same thing at a national level. Because our so-called "free trade" policies have left us with an over $700 billion annual trade deficit, other countries are sitting on huge piles of the dollars we gave them to buy their stuff (via Wal-Mart and other "low cost" retailers). But we no longer manufacture anything they want to buy with those dollars.

So instead of buying our manufactured goods, they are doing what we used to do with Third World nations - they are buying us, the USA, chunk by chunk. In particular, they want to buy things in America that will continue to produce profits, and then to take those profits overseas where they're invested to make other nations strong. The "things" they're buying are, by and large, corporations, utilities, and natural resources.

Back in the pre-Reagan days, American companies made profits that were distributed among Americans. They used their profits to build more factories, or diversify into other businesses. The profits stayed in America.

Today, foreigners awash with our consumer dollars are on a two-decades-long buying spree. The UK's BP bought Amoco for $48 billion - now Amoco's profits go to England. Deutsche Telekom bought VoiceStream Wireless, so their profits go to Germany, which is where most of the profits from Random House, Allied Signal, Chrysler, Doubleday, Cyprus Amax's US Coal Mining Operations, GTE/Sylvania, and Westinghouse's Power Generation profits go as well. Ralston Purina's profits go to Switzerland, along with Gerber's; TransAmerica's profits go to The Netherlands, while John Hancock Insurance's profits go to Canada. Even American Bankers Insurance Group is owned now by Fortis AG in Belgium.

Foreign companies are buying up our water systems, our power generating systems, our mines, and our few remaining factories. All because "flat world" so-called "free trade" policies have turned us from a nation of wealthy producers into a nation of indebted consumers, leaving the world awash in dollars that are most easily used to buy off big chunks of America. As www.economyincrisis.com notes, US Government statistics indicate the following percentages of foreign ownership of American industry:

· Sound recording industries - 97%
· Commodity contracts dealing and brokerage - 79%
· Motion picture and sound recording industries - 75%
· Metal ore mining - 65%
· Motion picture and video industries - 64%
· Wineries and distilleries - 64%
· Database, directory, and other publishers - 63%
· Book publishers - 63%
· Cement, concrete, lime, and gypsum product - 62%
· Engine, turbine and power transmission equipment - 57%
· Rubber product - 53%
· Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing - 53%
· Plastics and rubber products manufacturing - 52%
· Plastics product - 51%
· Other insurance related activities - 51%
· Boiler, tank, and shipping container - 50%
· Glass and glass product - 48%
· Coal mining - 48%
· Sugar and confectionery product - 48%
· Nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying - 47%
· Advertising and related services - 41%
· Pharmaceutical and medicine - 40%
· Clay, refractory, and other nonmetallic mineral products - 40%
· Securities brokerage - 38%
· Other general purpose machinery - 37%
· Audio and video equipment mfg and reproducing magnetic and optical media - 36%
· Support activities for mining - 36%
· Soap, cleaning compound, and toilet preparation - 32%
· Chemical manufacturing - 30%
· Industrial machinery - 30%
· Securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments and related activities - 30%
· Other food - 29%
· Motor vehicles and parts - 29%
· Machinery manufacturing - 28%
· Other electrical equipment and component - 28%
· Securities and commodity exchanges and other financial investment activities - 27%
· Architectural, engineering, and related services - 26%
· Credit card issuing and other consumer credit - 26%
· Petroleum refineries (including integrated) - 25%
· Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments - 25%
· Petroleum and coal products manufacturing - 25%
· Transportation equipment manufacturing - 25%
· Commercial and service industry machinery - 25%
· Basic chemical - 24%
· Investment banking and securities dealing - 24%
· Semiconductor and other electronic component - 23%
· Paint, coating, and adhesive - 22%
· Printing and related support activities - 21%
· Chemical product and preparation - 20%
· Iron, steel mills, and steel products - 20%
· Agriculture, construction, and mining machinery - 20%
· Publishing industries - 20%
· Medical equipment and supplies - 20%

Thus it shouldn't surprise us that the cons have sold off our ports as well, and will defend it to the bitter end. They truly believe that a "New World Order" with multinational corporations in charge instead of sovereign governments will be the answer to the problem of world instability. And therefore they must do away with quaint things like unions, a healthy middle class, and, ultimately, democracy.

The "security" implications of turning our ports over to the UAE are just the latest nail in what the cons hope will be the coffin of American democracy and the American middle class. Today's conservatives believe in rule by inherited wealth and an internationalist corporate elite, and things like a politically aroused citizenry and a healthy democracy are pesky distractions.

Everything today is driven by profits for multinationals, supported by the lawmaking power of the WTO. Thus, parts for our missiles are now made in China, a country that last year threatened us with nuclear weapons. Our oil comes from a country that birthed a Wahabist movement that ultimately led to 14 Saudi citizens flying jetliners into the World Trade buildings and the Pentagon. Germans now own the Chrysler auto assembly lines that turned out tanks to use against Germany in WWII. And the price of labor in America is being held down by over ten million illegal workers, a situation that was impossible twenty-five years ago when unions were the first bulwark against dilution of the American labor force.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote of King George III in the Declaration of Independence, "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation…" he just as easily could have been writing of the World Trade Organization, which now has the legal authority to force the United States to overturn laws passed at both local, state, and federal levels with dictates devised by tribunals made up of representatives of multinational corporations. If Dubai loses in the American Congress, their next stop will almost certainly be the WTO.

As Simon Romero and Heather Timmons noted in The New York Times on 24 February 2006, "the international shipping business has evolved in recent years to include many more containers with consumer goods, in addition to old-fashioned bulk commodities, and that has helped lift profit margins to 30 percent, from the single digits. These smartly managed foreign operators now manage about 80 percent of port terminals in the United States."

And those 30 percent profits from American port operations now going to Great Britain will probably soon go to the United Arab Emirates, a nation with tight interconnections to both the Bush administration and the Bush family.

Ultimately, it's not about security -- it's about money. In the multinational corporatocracy's "flat world," money trumps the national good, community concerns, labor interests, and the environment. NAFTA, CAFTA, and WTO tribunals can - and regularly do - strike down local and national laws. Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man" are replaced by Antonin Scalia's "Rights of Corporate Persons."

Profits even trump the desire for good enough port security to avoid disasters that may lead to war. After all, as Judith Miller wrote in The New York Times on January 30,

"Thus it shouldn't surprise us that the cons have sold off our ports as well, and will defend it to the bitter end. They truly believe that a "New World Order" with multinational corporations in charge instead of sovereign governments will be the answer to the problem of world instability. And therefore they must do away with quaint things like unions, a healthy middle class, and, ultimately, democracy."

It is no suprise at all.

========

GREAT post leflaw! This shows the "bigger picture" behind what we are fighting at Boycott-Riaa. The evils of the sound-recording and entertainment industrys are mearly one part of the overall corporate villiany we face as a society.

Well Well it's not just the cons!

Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal!!!!

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/60414c4c-a95e-11da-a64b-0000779e2340.html

"The evils of the sound-recording and entertainment industrys are mearly one part of the overall corporate villiany we face as a society."

As opposed to the villiany that goes on right here?? Hacking? Flame wars?Namecalling? Booting members?

Stick to music leftys...

Hat's off Leflaw....GREAT!
and, as always, to quote the great author
Kurt Vonnegut...
"So it goes."

TT:

Heres some real Villany for you -

Where does it say "republicans"?

You are a small minded fool, probably uneducated. You are a crpyto-leftist democrat- welfare- ambisexual- asshole who can't hum a tune. A true educated NRA supporter and libertarian like me wouldn't stand in the same room as you. AS a matter of fact, I am going to make sure you and your family are blackballed from the federalist society for life.

You are lucky that I don't test my right to bear arms on you rather than simply just throw you out of here for simply being too stupid to stay on point.

Or should I simply post a reward for your capture?

Since I've been hacked....say goodbye THUNDER hello HIPPIE...

"You are lucky that I don't test my right to bear arms on you."

Is it any wonder why threads are down to two or three posts with threats like this wackjob.

You're lucky I don't call the FBI!

"Or should I simply post a reward for your capture?"

Come get me yourself...coward!

"Hat's off Leflaw....GREAT!"

Hat's off???? You, me, Leflaw, and OldCodger are the only ones posting on this website anymore you fool...

This guy has ruined BoycottRiaa.com

Hmmmmm.....

Hmmmmm.....Stick to your insensitive George W Bush as Adolph Hitler parodies CodeWarrior thereby insulting Holocaust survivors the world over.

Thats were you true talent really is anyway.

"Is it any wonder why threads are down to two or three posts with threats like this wackjob."

And you pull this correlation from whese else but the air?

Well first thunderoad was hacked then hiphippie, will see how long this one last. Seems that leflaw can't stand up to any discourse at all...True hero!

Thin air? I see one or two posts on all the threads and a psycho running the webpage whos only power is to hack names and boot members. What a man!

We will see very shortly...We have a surprise for you, and its not Dick Cheny's Brain ( and also not Brain Cheney's dick...)

Note to all:

1. IP has been banned
2. AOL contacted (figures, doesn't it?)
3. DMCA complaint started against AOL.
4. We will report back on status.



Talk the talk, now walk the walk. Once we get started, we don't stop.

Ps:


If the idiot had one ounce of gray matter, he would have pointed out that Clinton's administration passed the DMCA.

I cannot tolerate uneducated trolls. I can barely tolerate educated ones.

"We will see very shortly...We have a surprise for you, and its not Dick Cheny's Brain"

Is that some kind of threat leflaw? Just remember that anything happens I'm holding "you" Larry Feldmen personally responsible. I already have threads saved that have "YOU" leftlaw threatening fellow members and have already been in contact with the Pennsylvania bar and will forward any more threats of personal harm to the FBI.

Don't go over the line leflaw.....

What line? Lets dance, then. Lets make this personal. What do you say? Ok?
You have been called out, just like in grade school, which you should attend more often...

(Radio silence...)

(Radio silence...)

Hey what do you know HIPPIE is back!

Can't respond because you hacked my name....Oh yeah and banned my IP

DMCA requires one act of circumvention. Boy are you dumb.

For Clarity ,,,

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/19453

Please read the whole thread.
That's why Gadfly is trolling.

He got his head handed to him.

Gadfly/Sweetie has had issues for years.
If you have the time, for example, check out article 14814 (but read it all, or not at all). I guarantee it'll be interesting.

Very interesting.

I remember that one ( one of many ).
Election night, I only stayed for a very short time. The pattern is the same though, coming in only to hurl names and start trouble, then complain when trouble comes. Code, Myself, and a couple of other Boycott members spent a few weeks at the Kerry site, trying to find a reason to vote for him, only to get booted when we openly questioned Kerry's WIPO stances. ( I voted libertarian, not that it matters ).

But, the trouble is even older, isn't it

Point is,
There is really no place for it here. If someone comes on ,with the express purpose of harassing the admins and other members, well, they SHOULD get slapped. I've been slapped down a coupla times myself ( I deserved it ). Some are mature enough to get over it. Some just can't seem to grow up enough to deal.

Hey dig this -

I didn't even write the article that offended the troll - a unisex term, since someone suggested it was an ugly broad - but only noted its connection to the RIAA issue - that 97% of the RIAA is foreign owned. Can you imagine? I am not a registered dem or GOP, did not vote for McGovern, and I have to take this shit from a loser?

Query - if we scoured the data base and reinvited all trolls to a reunion , how many would actually show up?

I give up; what's the punch line?

BTW:
Several weeks ago, leflaw posted a good definition of a troll. I'm going to check back and copy it down.

(I found it.)

leflaw  
Date: February 15, 2006 @ 12:13 PM
from wikipedia:

"In Internet terminology, a troll is a person who posts rude or offensive messages on the Internet, such as on online discussion forums, to disrupt discussion or to upset its participants."

"rude or offensive messages". . . "to disrupt". . . "or to upset". . .

Hmm.

"Is it any wonder why threads are down to two or three posts with threats like this"

I wish I could disagree, but… yo, I just gotta’ say, what the f*ck is up with this shit? Yo, I was gonna’ give you props Leflaw on getting this information out there and to the public, and even post this up on *****.com (rather not get the site’s name involved in this crap)… but then I see you postin’ crap about some unimportant person…

"You are lucky that I don't test my right to bear arms on you." And "Or should I simply post a reward for your capture?"

Leflaw… are you a moron? I’m not talking to you as a hater, morely… although I ain’t your friend, I feel I need to come to you as one now. Are you an idiot?!? What the f*ck you doin’? You’re borderline threatening one’s life online! In fact, if somethin’ happens to this mother f… guy, by some nut out there and claims anything about this web site, then that shit’s comin’ back to YOU.

I’m not a lawyer (funny, YOU are), but you are putting yourself in a bad, bad situation… And, what if this guy takes a knife to the arm, lies and claims someone did it because he was being threatened here? All he’s gotta’ do is say a reward was posted, by you, for his “capture”, and your fucked. (or maybe you know some legal loophole and that’s why you’re doing this? Shameful if you are.) This guy sounds like the kind of guy who prints out pages like this. Shit, if I had this crap said about me, I’d print it out.

Dude, whatever problems this guy is causing you… you need to just ban him and ignore it. This guy could be a nut, track your lawyer ass down, attack you and force you to defend yourself. Then, when they search his place, find the stuff you’ve been saying printed out… man… I don’t know what to tell ya will happen. (maybe you should advice yourself)

I say this, not as some “guest” to boycott-riaa.com, but as a fellow owner of a web site like Boycott-RIAA.com… I think you need to remove yourself from commenting, or interacting, with people up in here (at least for a while). Just let Shmoo handle things. (which he’s more than capable) You’re a great resource for our cause, and a great person for establishing dmusic.com, but you’re not helping threatening people.

If non-RIAA/non-music supporting BULL SH*T like this continues, supporters and visitors of******.com will not be associated with you any longer. (For all you know, this could be some 12 year old little kid.) Also, REAL MEN doesn’t need to use a gun to deal with someone; they use their fists in a fair fight.

Hoping For Change
Mixer Jaëxx
www.*****.com

just as long as you dont ban me for being British, King George was a poncy faggot anyway

besides, it feels the same here... im sure foreign companies are buying out the world, not just America... scary shit to know the Corps are running my life... or will be...

Mixer Dude:

Get a grip. The last time I heard, there were at least a few people left who appreciate sarcasm.

Been to both ...

www.supportug2.com

and

www.jaexx.com

It appears your traffic there isn't much different.
But we both know appearances are deceiving.

Readers aren't always posters.

"Dude, whatever problems this guy is causing you… you need to just ban him and ignore it. "

I hope you never have a troll like this. If you do , I can't wait to see how you handle it. Warn him, he gets worse, ban him, he comes back. Kind of like an obsessed 12 year old.

"I think you need to remove yourself from commenting, or interacting, with people up in here (at least for a while). "

That is exactly what the troll wants.
Then, he can ( and has ) freely victimize the other members of the site, without worrying about any reprisal.

"If non-RIAA/non-music supporting BULL SH*T like this continues, supporters and visitors of******.com will not be associated with you any longer. "

As I said,
That is the goal of a troll.
Upset, disrupt, create dischord.
And you played right into it.

But the mixer has a few points. I have to stop stop watching reruns of Pulp Fiction.

Anyway, note that I added a few lines to the original article above.

"But the mixer has a few points. I have to stop stop watching reruns of Pulp Fiction. "

LOL, I get that
My worry .....
As soon as it thinks your not around, or unable/unwilling to deal with it, it will be back, with a vengeance.
There are still plenty here who can debate BOTH sides without becoming insulting, condescending, or foul.
We don't need the likes of that.

Shit, Jdonahue still pops in once in a while. Almost no one here agrees with his "DRM has possibilities" stance, but he is well spoken, backs up his opinion nicely. I don't recall any of us "beating up" on him. It always stayed civil.

That's an example of contributing.

"besides, it feels the same here... im sure foreign companies are buying out the world, not just America... scary shit to know the Corps are running my life. "

Isn't that called an "Oligarchy" ??

Really not sure

Oligopoly?

Anyway, in history you had the rise of city- states, followed by rise of nations, with religion overlayed on the whole thing. In the 20th century we witnessed the rise of the multinational corporation., which transcends religion and nations, with one credo -

MONEY.

No wonder things are screwed up.

yo ChillinBuzz-



Limey Bastard

Jdonahue is an excellent example of someone who has very different opinions with the rest of us who also is respectful of the site/community. (And there-by has a lot of respect returned.)

The obnoxious BS by some (whom I am starting to believe have been allowed to show their asses for way too long) is getting intollerable.

Disagree about the ISSUES all you want folks, it is even encouraged! But trollish behavior IS trollish behavior.

Things are going to change very soon!
So, hold on to your hats folks!

(I actually think most of you will LIKE it!)

Change is often a good thing!

Leflaw wrote: "Anyway, note that I added a few lines to the original article above."

And a very good piece of information it is, too. I highly recommend everyone going back and reading it.

trollish behavior

Seems to me if I remember correctly, many of those you had banned were simply expressing constructive criticism. Others seemed to be sending sound advice on how to improve matters around here. All of which were responded to by hacking means by the administers that I can tell and all around banning. It's not for me to say how one runs his or her site, but these certainly look like the tactics that the Riaa uses to crush oppression. I thought people come here to escape the actions of the Riaa and not have the other side display some ofn their own. If not worse! People here really need to get their house in order here. And banning more people is just more signs of the irrational behavior of certain individuals.

"Seems to me, if I remember correctly, many of those you had banned were simply expressing constructive criticism."

Seems to me, you may not be remembering correctly.

Historically, we should go back at least as far as Kneo24.

Would you like to discuss that case?

"Seems to me if I remember correctly, many of those you had banned were simply expressing constructive criticism. Others seemed to be sending sound advice on how to improve matters around here. "

For "History" sake ....

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/19453

Take the time to read the whole thread

This is why RaidHHI got suspended ( suspended, not banned ).
This is also where Gadly ( thewiretapir )
gets his head handed to him, and why he keeps trolling.

It's in black and white, so no need to try to remember. Read it

""Seems to me, if I remember correctly, many of those you had banned were simply expressing constructive criticism."

Also extremely misleading ....

"Many of those .. " are actually .. just one.
Lots of usernames, 1 troll.

No one fooled.

JDonahue is like a DRM salesman or something. He thinks there is still a good DRM idea out there. He pops in once in a while to see if anyone is buying yet, usually when the topic at hand was DRM in the first place.

Trolls prevent you from discussing the topic at hand, which in this case is -- If the government is concerned about foreign encroachment and monopoly of US commerce, the RIAA is the place to start shaking things up since they're at the top of the list.

Trolls are attention whores who want you to talk about them.

"Trolls are attention whores who want you to talk about them. "

My apologies George.
I just wanted to keep the truth up front.

Gadfly implies that "many" have been
banned.

Truth is, I personally do not remember
anyone else but Kneo24 getting an
actual "Ban" up until Gadlfy's crap.
That was quite a long time ago.

Many usernames, one troll.

"Trolls are attention whores who want you to talk about them."

keno24/Gadfly/... orwhatevertheflippingnameusedthistime

is done.

============

ENOUGH is ENOUGH.

If someone has that much energy to hound us all these years, they can DAMN WELL apply that kind of energy to their OWN damn website/blog/forum instead.

========

Trolls,

GET OUT! Go start your OWN damn websites!

(We permitted too much of your shit for too long... and YES we lost quite a few member/participants because of our die-hard "lasse fair" beliefs about free speech.)

I want folks like compmore to come back.

I am SICK of advantage-taking assholes who think Boycott-Riaa is a place to get a "hard-on" by fucking with the people who participate here with true belief and hope in our agenda.

GO AWAY TROLLS! (ALL THE WAY TO HELL!)

(collective sigh of relief)
With this new policy, I guess that's curtains for the likes of Gadfly, Sweetie, etc., not to mention Kneo24. R.I.P.
Those problem children won't be missed.

For what its worth, I put Gadfly and Kneo ( and maybe Raid) in different categories.

Banning and ip banning are different. Gadfly contributed nothing, ever, and was ip banned after numerous warnings and attempted re-registrations continuing hi s violation of the TOS.

The others made contributions to be sure, but violated the TOS by attacking admins, which is anethma and grounds for excommunication, just like the church.
They were not ip banned, however, and choose not to re-register.

I will tell you that we don't make these decisions lightly, but I will gladly sacrifice "traffic" for peace of mind and drawing a line in the sand with trolls.

Someone says "thats like the RIAA" --
Well, its like any successful organization - You don't air dirty linen in public. If you try it with me, I will out your whole family if I have to.

We do have a private note system, which anyone is free to use. Choosing to make a public rather than private spectacle will spell doom for your account here. You want to diss me, do it in private. If you want to diss me in public, you lose, at least here.

Don't like it? Don't register.

And for what its worth I did not and do not hate Kneo 24 or Raid. But why these dudes think that they are advancing some cause by attacking me, I am not sure. I never promised free speech, just the TOS.

This idea about free speech on private websites is babytalk, like the band that fought for the right to party. Was that Ratt? Quiet Riot? Oh well....

"band that fought for the right to party"

Beastie Boys

( shameful that I know that )

"If someone [Gadfly/Sweetie] has that much energy to hound us all these years . . ."

. . . they are damned and determined to keep pushing unless something dramatic happens to stop them.

Hi boys and girls and trolls,

Fyi, I may not post very often but I look in and read almost every day. Keep up the good work Mike. (I love the picture.)

"This idea about free speech on private websites is baby talk, like the band that fought for the right to party."

Let's see; oh, yeah, here's the document [rustle, rustle]:
". . . endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" AND the right to free speech on private websites AND the right to be an asshole troll!

Yep, sure enough, those basic liberties are there, alright.

Heh, heh, I was only kidding about that document, folks.
Troll rights aren't really in the Declaration or the Constitution!
I'm sure many of you knew better, that they're actually in the first amendment (the first of ten, commonly known as the Bill of Rights).
[rustle, rustle]
Amendment I:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble peaceably and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"; or the right of cyberspace trolls to exasperate the owners or the users of forums of private websites.

There. Previously, I was just dissin' (er, I mean checkin') on you people, to see if you knew where the troll rights really were.

Excellent post, leflaw! I think this article should be bumped back to the front page!

Enough. Sarcasm aside, the notion of "troll rights" on a privately owned & operated website is a fantasy that doesn't exist apart from a devious mindset.

Oops, sorry, Lachatte, I didn't know your post was there. (I meant "enough" of what I had been writing.)

And ditto about what you said regarding the top of this thread (excellent article, AND super post by leflaw).

AAAY MEN!!!!!

leflaw.. you are the best!!! no wonder I subscribe to dmusic!! Folks, I have said repeatedly.. it is ALL POLITICAL. These stupid non-thinking-bumper-sticker-pull-it-out-of-my-ignorant-racist-classist-so-called-conservative-butt a-holes don't want you to think, express, vote, leflaw. Or live in "their" neighborhoods.. I have a few good, true conservative friends, and there is common ground amongst us.. mainly, that Americans should work American jobs.. especially sensitive ones concerning security. There is enough here for everyone, including hard-working immigrants, who eventually become American citizens.. like the ancesters of these ignorant dolts who seek to spam.. we gotta organize, VOTE AND VERIFY! this November. Congress has repeatedly bent over and accepted this "forced globilization" trash that predatory capitalism promotes. Why? The only non-violent tool that we have is our to VOTE!! No balance, no action.

BTW What is up with these "rightys" and Clinton?? How long ago was that. Are they trying to take Monica Lewenski's place??

JazzM, very insightful.

I have a new IQ test. First take the regular one. Then read my stuff and decide if I am a conservative, a liberal, a republican, a democrat, a liberatarian, a fascist, a leftist, a right winger....

- You can't. If you try, take 50 points off the regulat IQ test.
- If you can't understand sarcasm without an emoticon, take 75 points off.
- If you at least try to figure out what I am talking about with wikipedia, add 15 points.
- If you are willing to play Jepoardy for money, add ten points.

Fair Warning - One thing I am, though, is educated. Thats why I know that free speech guarantees in the US constitution are GOVERNMENT prohibitions. "Private" free speech - that includes the right to get thrown out of a bar or website, or actually get beat up if you say "Fuck the 76's" in a crowded Philadelphia movie theatre -- does not exist in the US, and indeed, it should not.

And keep those subscriptions coming - WAIT TILL YOU SEE OUR NEW SITE REDESIGN coming soon.

DMUSIC version 8....

I would guess that we are fairly congruent.. I am an American mutt.. a little of this, a little of that.. I also know the Declaration of Independence by heart, and will quote it prolifically to further a point. As for free speech.. anyone has the right to be stupid, but they also have to accept the consequences..

And another thing. I reread the Thom Hartmann piece, and also went to the website that he quoted. After discussing this with my wise parter, I want to widen the framework here a little bit. Is not the current economic trend a blowback of a few centuries of imperialist-minded predatory capitalism? After all, did not Britain have an "empire?" Did not Coca-Cola teach the world to sing, to the accompaniment of the military presence in foreigh lands to protect the "companies?" Do we not have a "green zone" in Iraq?? Is this not the result of "lowest-common-denominator"
thinking applied to economics? Add that to the common My-way-is-best attitude of many foreign enclaves set up globally by Americans in the last century in particular. Remember the Marshall Plan in Europe? Remember the wholesale colonolization of Africa? What goes around comes around sometimes, leflaw.

colonialization.. whew.. can't spell so early in the day!

Oh my God Leflaw, you're a riot

Much respect for standing up for yourself and not taking BS. I'll steal this quote for the occasion:
"Don't box with God"

Jazz:

My belief is that the 21st century is and will be about
1) revenge of the former colonials.
2) replay of Charles Martel and the Battle of Tours
3) World governement through computers
4) Somebody has got to light the big one, somewhere, sometime, out of curiousity if nothing else.
5) The hell with the big one. The global icecaps are melting.
6) The colonization of space, starting with the moon, even though we all know that it was already colonized.
7) Jeff Rense gets elected President and incarcerates Matt Drudge.

FROM THE INBOX:

"I didn't know your news submission process and the URL I'm sending is more about foreign ownership of companies which resulted from the Dubai port deal which is still the buzz... but one thing in this article that struck me as interesting was a breakdown of industries and % of foreign ownership: "Sound recording industries - 97%"

Maybe it's common knowledge here, and I didn't fact check this although I'm sure people here are more than able to do such. The signifigance of this point I'll leave to you of course, but it definately struck me as more than a bit interesting...

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0227-20.htm

Cheers,
-JC"

I love Thom Hartmann....great article.