RAMBLINGS DURING THE HOLIDAYS
I was just thinking about some of the lyrics of Christmas tunes today. You know the ones .."you better watch out, you better not pout, you better not cry, I'm telling you why..." and "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake...he knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake..."

No, it's not talking about Cary Sue surveilling your downloading, it's about Santa.

It seems this year has been one filled with strife, and even those words, previously seen as touting some omniscient ability of the jolly fat man, have a hint of "Patriot Act III" to them.

Seems this past year has been particularly troubling. Wars, snipers, "sue em all",
layoffs, flu ,outsourcing of jobs, Diebold voting machine scandals, SCO threatens Linux users, and on and on. Everytime you turn around, something negative seems to be going on, and now, even the "King of Pop" is facing trial on serious charges.

And, now, via the RIAA and MPAA, music and movies have gone from means by which you take your mind off your troubles, to additional ways of getting in trouble for some.

I think all this has even taken its toll on the ability to enjoy and celebrate. In my city, you see less holiday decorations, fewer houses with lights, fewer smiles on faces, etc..

Granted, for many years, Christmas has become pushed on us, less as a religious celebration, than as a reason to open up the pocketbook and go on a buying frenzy.
Some stores rely on Christmas to provide as much as half of their yearly take, a fact that has led some to say that if Christmas did not exist, businesses would have to invent it.

2004- Year of the Wooden Monkey
In Chinese Astrology, 2004 is the Year of the Wooden Monkey (there are 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, and five elements ...metal,water,wood,fire,earth).
After the kind of year we had in 2003, one might hope for a quieter and more peaceful year, but it may be more of the same if not worse. The monkey is full of mischief, and often gets in trouble, and thus, we may have even more problems in the coming year. The Chinese have an ancient curse "May you live in interesting times".
For me, 2003 was certainly a bit more "interesting" than I would have wanted.

LOOKING FOR PEACE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
Instead of an increase in peace and prosperity, it seems , despite the ongoing reassurances of some major media outlets, that the opposite may be in store for us.
The Middle East has been the site of discord, wars and rumors of wars, for centuries.
I remember seeing a t-shirt once that said "happiness is an inside job", and I think we can modify that to say that "Peace is an inside job." The wars we see in the world, are merely the macrocosmic manifestation of the disharmony within the hearts of men (and women) worldwide. You cannot force peace upon people. You may bring a veneer of temporary non-hostility into an area, but if there is a war in the heart of the people, you will never have a lasting peace. A perfect example is in Korea. There has been a potential hot war about to erupt in Korea for a long time, and just because there is not a shooting war there now, does not mean that there is not a "war of the hearts" going on.

THE RIAA LAWSUITS ARE A SYMPTOM, NOT THE DISEASE
I know I am going to sound like the resident curmudgeon here, but, not to minimize the evil of the RIAA, MPAA, etc., they are not truly the disease, just symptoms of it. Globalism, loss of personal liberties, loss of privacy, etc., more symptoms.
Our world has become trapped by those in whom, the love of money, truly has spawned all sorts of evil. Large corporate scandals not only cost many Americans to lose the money they planned to retire on, caused people to lose their jobs, but also, revealed the grimy underbelly of corporate accounting, and through a greasy window, we could see the machinations of the Machiavellian management, like snakes writhing in pits, trying to consume every morsel for themselves. The real disease then, is the evil in men's hearts, where personal greed makes them view everyone else as means to an end. When you don't give a damn about the damage you do to others as long as you make a giant profit, you become a danger to all men, and we are getting a peek at what appears to have grown from an individual infection to an epidemic, to a pandemic.

SPARKLES ON THE OCEAN OF RIPPLES
Each of us, through each positive or negative act, sends forth ripples into the world. You can cheat each customer out of a nickel, and send forth a ripple of dishonesty, or you can do at least one good deed for one person every day, and send forth a ripple of help, and even hope.

Each of us is like one drop of water in the ocean, but you know what? Some of those drops sparkle. Most of the people who come here, are already interested in making things better I think. But, we may feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
I know that I have felt disheartened, and overwhelemed at times.

I guess I am saying, I just want my country back. I want to be able to listen to the news and not read about companies wanting us to have chips implanted in our arms (there are plans currently to mandate all livestock to have such chips and that they be monitored to the time of final slaughter, with computers tracking their movement from place to place). I want to feel like our country is preserving freedom, not passing laws in secret to take our freedoms away, or making side treaties with other groups of nations to bring us under the iron gauntlet of some European Union.

I want the vote of the common man and woman to really count again, and not worry that a computer programmer could render the votes of millions as null and void.

I believe though, that my voice is an echo of millions others who want a friendlier, safer, healthier, more prosperous country. Childhood and adult obesity are on the rise, diabetes is increasing in numbers of people affected, autism in children is increasing, and the use of prescription drugs by young folks has increased to the point that some are calling them the "Rx generation" .

A PLAN
We need concrete changes in this country, starting with a government accountable to the people, not someone who uses it as a bully pulpit to push forward a personal agenda. Whoever is elected as president, needs to remember that this is a representative republic, not a fiefdom where the nobles scheme behind the peasants' back on new ways to monitor and exploit them.

We need to develop a new national spirit of community. It's a shame for one of the formerly most advanced and prosperous countries on earth, to have beggars at every street corner. It's also a shame that the governor of California declares an "Economic Emergency" and decides that paying cops is more important than paying for the health and welfare of the citizens.

In short, I feel that the reins of power over the government have slipped so far from our grasp, that the horse of government has gotten high on locoweed and is galloping full speed toward the edge of the cliff. The people need to rein these people back in.

It's time for ALL of us to find a leader with not only vision, but humility. Instead of having someone prance out from time to time to tell us where he is sending our young men to die, it is time for leaders to LISTEN to the people, not TELL us what we are going to do.

We don't work for the president, or the Senate, or the Supreme Court, they work for US! Call me crazy, but if they truly work for us, as the boss, we should be telling them what we want done, not vice versa.

We need a REAL national agenda of positive action, designed to get this country back in the black. not almost dead in red. The national vision should not be a tunnel vision, aimed only at hunting down bogeymen, but actually making this country the great place to live we all dream for it to be.

There was a politician who asked "Are you better off today than you were a year ago?"

I say NO. Things are steadily getting worse. More and more troops are being led to the slaughter in Iraq, in a never ending "war on terror". The war on drugs and poverty, that has gone on for decades, hasn't put an end to their targets.

Sometimes, our brother is more than just someone to take money from...sometimes he is our brother.

We were taught that this country started by courageous men, fighting for a beautiful idea, that of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. I agree that's a wonderful goal. Let's try it again.

~Code

Thank you Code. An excellent reflective and thought provoking article. Sometimes I think I am becoming too cynical and I yearn for the days when I was a naive teenager who didn't even understand the full impact of the term “ignorance is bliss”. Of course one cannot turn back the clock, and there is no point in trying to do so. Once I was old enough to realize that Santa did not come down the chimney and there was no flying sleigh Christmas was never the same again !

Code, I was flipped out last year when the TV news was saturated with images of jet fighter planes, cheering crowds, childern kissing fathers at airports, and thousands of quickie marriages for departing partners. (No coverage of nervous soldiers lining up in sperm banks. They had heard the rumuors that they might become infertile after exposure to enemy gas attacks or our own government's vaccinations.)

THAT TV campsign was depressing, the grinning Christmas mask of death.

THIS Christmas, every show is saturated with warnings of terrorist attacks. Saying in effect, "Don't go out!"

Christmas shopping is the most important bellweather for the economy and the upcoming elections.

The good news, folks, is that our campaign is working. Don't buy major label CD's. Give that money to dmusic or kevindoran.com, EFF, or publicknowledge. org.

The good news is that EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF 2003 LEGISLATION proposed by the RIAA has been bitch-slapped back to hell from whence it came.

FOUR PIECES OF LEGISLLATION are currently pending to protect fair use, and reject the UnConsitutional violations of due process.

It took some time, but we are getting judges who have learned something about computer networks. It restores my faith in the generous hearts of the American people. (Not the executives and lawyers at corporations, nor the corrupt lap dogs in Congress.)

This Verizon ruling is a reversal of fortune for the fascists at the RIAA. Every scientist and academic in the world, and millions of computer users, hate the RIAA and the MPAA. I am offended as a working musician, that music is the targeted industry, the "canary in the coal mine," for police state methods. I am offended at the despicable words from Hillary Rosen's mouth equating music browsing with child porno. The goals of the RIAA are now intertwined with those of the Ashcroft Patriot Act.

It is time for Cary Sherman to resign. I am offended that Mitch Glazier is allowed to speak in public. He is as bad as Oliver North or G. Gordan Libby. They need to go. We refuse to negotiate when they are in the room.

Michael Powell is as good an example as any of the weakening strands in the gentic pool. He has to go. NO ONE is selling out the nation's freedoms as much as Colin's son Michael.

Merry Chrsitmas, everyone. This Verizon ruling is delightful. We have more obstacles ahead. Onward and upward.

Let's start the year with an Impeach Michael Powell Campaign. Give Cary Sherman a golden parachute, and an around-the-world cruise ticket. The RIAA has done it before for Steven Fabrizio, they can do it again.

Thanks for sharing, Mighty Code.

TOM

WELL SAID Tom...as usual my friend...right on target !
Merry Christmas...
~Code

Code...funny you should mention the idea of corporations wanting computer chip implants in people. Seems corporations would love this as a way of making sure they get paid for everything that THEY think you should pay for. I ran across this interesting statement....
A biological engineer from the Middle East will find a way to alter DNA and create a biological virus that will be used in the manufacture of computer chips."

A recent technological breakthrough occurred when two Israeli Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers, discovered a process in which strands of DNA are incorporated into a working electronic component.

Links to this can be found at http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence11.html


In religious circles this is commonly referred to as the "mark of the beast" and a mark of sorts is what it appears to be. The theory behind the mark of the beast is that it is rooted in the greed of man. There would be a time when there is no money as we know it and to get anything you must have this "mark" If you think about this, what is happening now in America...our freedom is definitely under attack and if it continues....this is where we are headed.

Oops....I goofed on that link above. it should be http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence11.html

still didn't come out right....anyway there is no space between the c and e in evidence11.html above.

Lessig is talkinng about attending the European conference on his blog. Altho the Euros couldn't get the wireless access part right for attendees----they managed to implement RFID tracking movements on everyone. As Lessig notes drily, "this is something no one requested!!"

Maybe this year, instead of tracking Santa on his trip from the North Pole by radar, they'll use a combo of RFID,
Amber alert system, and the GPS on his cell phone...Welcome to 1984 + 20.

Great article Code, though I must say despite a number of atrocities have occurred this year, it's still been a good one. I've been able to get many others to listen to our point of view, and I have been able to participate in my forms in this movement. Its also been a year of many personal victories for me.

Though I must agree there have been times where I have felt completely disheartened, but I've still been able to continue. In the grand scheme of things, we may very well be insignicant on a individual basis, but what truly makes this community shine is our ability to come together and discuss a multitude of issues without becoming infuriated at one and another, despite coming from different mentalities, backgrounds, and ages.

As 2004 rolls around we need to make sure we inform more and more people, as well as becoming active in various ways. While the year will probably contain many hardships, they cannot defeat us, unless we allow them to. That is why we are fighting now, not 10--20 years in the future, in a totalitarian Big Brother society that barely resembles our own.

Suikio

Code, you seem troubled. Every year brings it's own set of unique problems. We just have to learn to roll with them, the good days, the bad days.

As far as Christmas itself goes, I'd love nothing better than to have an old fashioned charley brown Christmas. We must keep those past Christmas's sacred in our hearts, and make new, good memories.

When I'm down I revert to the only true constant there is in my life.

Psalm 23 (NIV)

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for You are with me;
Your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Merry Christmas Codewarrior, to you, your family and to all of our "family" here on this board! ~~pepe~~

We have beaten the RIAA!!!!!

Those fools will now have to stop their evil, awful campaign for the time being!

:-:~ PhantomGhost :-:~

Thank you so much Pepe...your thoughts, prayers, and input is always a blessing my friend....

Hoping you have the happiest of holidays...and the merriest of New Years
~Code

Code.. you are always so inspirational with your posts. Have you ever thought about running for President? I'm serious no kidding about this. Compassion is what this government needs.. it's turned so cold. I believe that the forefathers of this country would be so upset about what has happened to their dreams. Everyday I pray to god for things to get better between all people, not just here but everywhere. Although alot of people want to keep us seperated because of the "Me" syndrome. We all are brothers and sisters. Yes, even those who do bad things. All the bad things in the world are to help others realize what they are and hopefully make a change inside themselves. I think God or whoever anyone believes in is a kind, understanding, loving, being. Which means he doesn't want fighting and hatred in this world. Love, Peace and Goodwill everyone! I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas.

It takes a sparkle in someones eyes to remember Christmas when you were little and as you get older the world has a way to make you jaded to somethings to which this world makes it, how do you get it back you may ask? look to the shelters and toys for tot drives, and food donations it is guarenteed to make you feel the best you ever have in a long time I guarentee it.
once you see the gleam in a childs eyes I swear it'll take you back to when you were little then you remember.
Code as usual it was a great post and reflection.

Looks like Santa will pass out lots of coal this year. Maybe that is why we have so much of it...

Great shiznit Code. I agree, our country was designed to maintain peace and keep civil liberties and freedom in our pockets, not money.

We shouldn't be diluted with corporate greed and facism.

Love your country. Hate you government.

code- i have admired you since day one, and you know this. the current government is no worse than others that preceded it, i for one think its made things better. but those are just political differences-isnt it great that we can have those?
this last year for some positive news-the stock market gained 22 percent. our economy is adding 100,000 jobs per month. saddam-a weapon of mass destruction himself-is no more.
and-thru the worst year since clintons fake economy-we americans managed to donate more money to charities than we did the prior year.
so code-the news is not all bad, in fact, some is pretty good!
merry christmas my friend!
and to the rest of you as well-whatever religion you choose or choose not, whatever your political beliefs, race, whatever-be safe, be well, and take heart!
we are winning!

~time flies~

I just really want to thank everyone for the kind things you said.
I think I'm too idealistic to be presidential material. Boycotter, you said it just like I feel it. I think part of my reason for writing is something that even I didn't know, but nitedreamerxp brought it out...

The true magic of the season is its ability to stir us into thinking of others. And, the gifts I appreciate the most this year, is the friendship and inspiration I get from each of you.

So, a big thank you for all you are doing, and as some have said, let's try to do what each of us can to bring a little joy into the lives of those less fortunate during the holidays.

God bless each and every one of you. You are all in my prayers and thoughts. And I pray for the most healthy, happy, and prosperous Christmas, Chanukah , Kwanza, and New Year's possible.

Love,Light, and Peace

~Code

HAPPY XMAS
by John Lennon and Yoko Ono

So this is xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry xmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight

A very merry xmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry xmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Xmas

I'm in agreement with you on the "RIAA is a symptom" area in particular. I think another significantly powerful solution to the problem of both governmental and corporate authoritarianism is to end dependance on them and their tools.

For those of you who are underemployed, unemployed, or just have some extra time on your hands, I highly recommend putting in some time with a volunteer or non-profit organization. Preferably someplace where the beneficiaries are also invovled in doing the work (hand up over a hand out, though I don't really oppose hand outs - it's the give a fish or teach to fish problem). If nothing else, it's an easy way to make Christmas into something more than a yearly rush into the mall and consumer glut.