Hey all,

I'm not really sure what our interest in Afgahanastan is. All I know is I'm old enough to know that there must be something our goverment or big business wants there because thats the only reason we go to war is for power or money. Being as Afgahanastan has no real resources that I know of (except the largest supply of poppy plants in the world) it must be something our goverment wants. Perhaps it's just to have bases to run covert missions from so we can spy on our allies and start insurgencies against our enemies. If there are any soldiers out there that would like to chime in I would love to hear from you. Thanks and good luck too us all,

Jim

Copyright Trolls

http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-lawyers-sued-for-fraud-abuse-and-ext...

Here's a piece on "Copyright Trolls". Copyright Trolls are the "new ambulance chasers?" They usually work independently of RIAA and MPAA and send you letters demanding from $1000 to $3000 as a settlement (to keep from going to trial) for what they claim is your piracy of downloaded material. I've heard they love going after people who download porn, especially, because of the stigma attached and the probable desire of most people to keep this quiet. These CT lawyers don't really want you to go to trial..they want a quick settlement. There was one CT outfit, Righthaven, that bought up the rights of various newspaper and blog sites and sent out demands for settlements trapping tens of thousands of people...who copied and used that information in other blogs. The courts threw out the cases.

If you ever get a "settlement letter" for an alleged copyright-infringement accusation from a troll, keep in mind that it is "not a lawsuit, and you will face no legal repercussions if you ignore it." However, lawyers recommend that you don't ignore it. "If you receive a settlement letter through your ISP, your name has not yet been revealed to the group that is trying to get your money. Keep it that way. Maintain your privacy at all costs...and contact the plantiff's attorney only through your own attorney or anonymously." ie: "through an email that won't identify you personally".

http://www.pcworld.com/article/230515/so_youre_being_sued_for_piracy.html

"...we are in Afghanistan to keep the Taliban from getting the nuclear power from Pakistan."

Yeah, sure, like bring back the "mushroom cloud" disinformation of the Bush Administration. The two craziest nations in the world right now already are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons...the US and Israel. And the "Taliban" (which means "student" in Arabic) and Al Qaida (which means "the base" in Arabic) have been so demonized by the west that people believe they are crazier than we are...and we have enough nukes to make the planet a burned out cinder many times over. And we have already used them to kill masses of people...so who is really the crazy ones here? And, not only that, but there really are very few Taliban or Al Qaida left. Of course, that doesn't keep our propagandists from calling Iraqis, Afghanis, or Pakistanis who are trying to defend their countries, Taliban or Al Qaida.

"War is a racket"...so said General Smedley Butler ....and very little of what you hear the war mongers says is truth. We have more enemies now than we ever had...and it's not Al Qaida or Taliban...it is everyone else in the world who sees through the lies and atrocities of the bully boy war mongers in the US....the ones who lied us into this terrible death machine..the purveyors of blood money....and the ignorant and stupid believers in the propaganda told by these war criminals.

Do you really think it is about "fighting them over there so we do not have to fight them here"? What it really is all about is creating enemies so that the military industrial complex and politicians can continue to keep us very afraid and bilk us out of our taxes. It's about trying to bully the rest of the world and taking control and resources. And that is what Hitler wanted as well. At least Hitler had to experience the horrors of WWI and the terrible oppression brought about in crushing reparations meted out by arrogant powers...and against those who were playing some of the same games back then in the banking system. The US has not had such history...they only have greedy connivers who, from the early history of dirty tricks against the Indians, to today's false flag operations, illegal wars, and atrocities.

And if "this nightmare could happen" it is only because we slaughtered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of their people in a stupid crusade. Yes, crusade...Bush made a slip of the tongue...but I'm sure he meant just that. Sometimes, I think we have never left the Middle Ages or left behind those ignorant religious belief systems that have been responsible for millions of tortures and deaths.

Ya-but . . . . Whadabout the pipelines?

It's argued, that one of the main reasons "we" - or rather "our troops and treasure" were used, invading that desolate region was:

With Iran in the way, the eastern route for Caspian-Oil and Gas to China, India and/or warm-water, lies east of Iran, through Afghanistan's southern Kundahar Province, and Pakistan's western Baluchistan Province to the Port of Gwadar and the Arabian Sea. This is the relatively lawless smuggler's route for opium out and guns back in. It's what Russia wanted when it invaded and occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Are we gonna, -- -- excuse-me; Are our Western-Oil clients gonna just leave that pipeline to the Iranian-Russian-Chinese who want east-Caspian Oil and Gas for themselves??? -- After "we" have blown a few billion-bucks for "our" Big-Oil Buddies? Are "we" gonna continue to take care of their interests .. .. .. after all, they still own our government. Right? DailyKos, 2/19/09 Afghan War for Pipeline

And then there's "The Terrorists", who might get control of Pakistan's Nuclear defenses against India's Nuclear defenses against Pakistan's Nuclear . . . . We can't have that !!! And, the local people, Taliban, Warlords and others -- these ancient cultures can't be allowed to interfere with progress, or World access to World Energy Reserves.

This entire oil-rich area has been fought over by international powers since oil became critical for energy in the early 1900s (WW-I). It's been the Russians, The Brits, the Germans, The French, and (since WW-II) the Americans, back and forth, now the Chinese and Indians will be getting involved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Global_Carbon_Emissions.svg

It ain't easy; and it ain't over til it's over -- which ain't gonna happen any-time soon.

_

"Their enemy appears to have no sense of honor or fairness. Day after day they see their friends, bunkmates, brothers-in-arms killed or maimed."

I agree with some of what you say but consider what you have just said....they "have no sense of honor or fairness"?
Excuse me but what the heck do you think THEY are up against? A powerful and well armed army with all the latest high tech kill gadgets that make it a lot more probable that "the enemy" will be killed...along with all his family members...wives and children...brothers and sisters...rather than the well armed soldier.

A lot of times some of these soldiers are just aiming cursors on a computer screen and pushing buttons and they are murdering innocent civilians while there is very little danger to them. Yes, other soldiers have to patrol the streets which is a lot more dangerous for sure. But, again, we are over there, having illegally and immorally invaded another sovereign country, occupying their homeland, and forcing our will upon the people.

It is not, of course, the fault of the soldiers (unless they are there willingly and get a thrill out of killing or believing all the BS about "defending Liberty, Democracy, or retribution for 911...or any other nonsense)..but it is the fault of all of the damn politicians and the MIC and everyone else that are profiting off of this blood money...and let's include the American people who don't even see the idiotic fallacy of the lies that we are there for ...any reasons less than committing war crimes for power and profit. WE are the aggressors no less evil than Hitler and his myopic idolizing German citizens who raise their hands to shout seig heil! So, as Hitler thought he'd spread his power around the world...so is the United States of America toward this endeavor also.

But the US no longer has any respect from any other country....because the US has shown how seethingly two-timing, underhanded, and murderous it can be. All it has is an immense military to frighten and coerce other nations to bend to their will. The miserable and lecherous cockroaches who have connived to squeeze the system of manufacturing greatness we once had into a casino economy backed by a death-machine are running the show and they have managed to keep a lot of people fooled.

If the shoe was on the other foot and it was America who had been invaded by an overwhelming techologically superior force, and occupied, would Americans not do what ever they could to fight back. Would they not "fight dirty"? I imagine that that superior force would also be getting their people to believe that those filthy ragtag Americans were terrorists who "don't fight honorably or be fair".

In fact, this has already happened way back in our history....when the colonists had to resort to "unhonorable and unfair" terrorist tactics against the British (which is what the British called our refusal to continue to fight by standing put and aiming). Where would we be without the same kind of fighting tactics that the Iraqis...the Afghanis...have to use to fight us in their lands? Yes, it is very shameful what we have done over there...not honorable at all...and it is very unfortunate...just as it was unfortunate for all of the German Soldiers or the Japanese Soldiers who died for their stupid criminal ruling elites...but our soldiers have died in vain..died for a disgusting excuse for a country that is ruled and controlled by corrupt and greedy men. And many of the American citizens are just as fooled as were the Germans and Japanese citizens during WWII.

All these technological weapons of spying and killing are only being successfully tried out and tested in the Middle East lab...on other people....soon, they will be used against Americans by the same ruling elite forces that are killing other people. As our economy continues to destroyed..and people continue to suffer and see that our real enemies are not in the Middle East...they are the ruling elite. As Mr. Smith, formerly of Goldman Sachs, has enlightened us all recently, they think we're all a bunch of muppets to be robbed blind. And when the people finally try to strike back....these criminals will call out the drones...the ones armed with Tomahawk missiles. We won't be any better than Syria. Obama, or whoever the puppet is in the Presidency, will be just like Assad of Syria and many people will be hurt. They already have demonstrated this by having police attack peaceful demonstrators. If the demonstrators get more "out of hand" what do you thing will happen? But, unless it does, things will not change. No election is going to change things...that's for sure.

We've worked in the anti-piracy business for close to five years now. This is how we see it:

The current U.S. DMCA (piracy) regulations need to be strengthened. We need to require file-sharing providers (i.e., Rapidshare, Megaupload) to take down or remove access to reported files (pirated video, movie or song) immediately upon receipt of a DMCA takedown notice. They would still have 10 days to investigate the validity of the notice. But after a file is reported, some file-sharing websites still take their time to remove access to pirated files and in the meantime, hundreds or perhaps thousands or more still have access to it.

That been said, getting countries all over the world to agree to some type of international piracy law would be a good place to start. We don't see that happening. The taking down of Megaupload put some fear into a lot of people, but there are some who still ignore our regulations completely.

What average users hardly understand: If composer C composes a melody, adds chords and his friend poet P writes lyrics for that tune, all this is copyrighted. If ten years later arranger A writes a piano arrangement for that same tune, he owns the rights for his arrangement and for his probably partly differing chords.

If C dies very young, but P gets pretty old, the melody will be copyright-free one day -- but look out : P's lyrics might still be copyrighted and A's piano arrangement even longer!

If 70 years later a corporation will produce a CD with "Golden Evergreens" and we find our same title on it : look out again : Whose chords did they use? Are the lyrics meanwhile copyright-free (possibly depending on the country)? Did they use A's chords?! The CD producers probably pepped up the sound with a new arrangement! Whatever, the new recording (the sound, not the old melody) will be copyrighted anyway. Every single musician has a right too. So if there is also a saxophon improvisation to hear, the saxophon player owns the right for the notes he played and for the sound of his solo.

If you live in that future now and have that brand-new CD and you want to use the title copyright free.... what now? Well, you better try to look in an archive for the original sheets. You actually need scientific knowledge about music and history to find those 70/80/90 whatsoever years old sheets. You copy them and give those copies to your band-fellows. Or you write an arrangement for your band, using these copies.

Just a little insight by a jazz musician who at times also composed. For common users and consumers this is an awful swamp.

Libertarians do have it wrong.

They want to blame government about the sorry state of our nation. They fail to realize that our government has been co-opted by corporate power and that the blame belongs to the corporate elite.

When was the last time that our legislature written laws in the people’s interest? It is always the people rising up to stop pro-corporate legislation from taking effect. SOPA and PIPA being fine examples.

Thom, the 150K fine seems too steep, but, it is copyright protection for the artists ( unless I missed something) as well as their publishers. I guess I'll ask you, what about someone going to Kinkos and knocking off a few copies of your books?How would you feel? Maybe, one would be OK, right? But files, nah, just pay the artists,songwriters and Co.s that publish the music you like. Part of me sees this in the same light I see those guys who ripped off the old Blues musicians, just thieves.

You put things in my mouth I never said. I never said "shut up". At times I criticize pretty harsh, but I never said "shut up". I'm pretty frank, and now I frankly have the feeling, it's not possible to have a founded discussion with you.

You don't even get what you quoted: I recommended to the folks, to judge the Democrats mainly by the Democratic Congress team. Because Congress is making the laws and not the President. Congress has the actual power in our nation. So we should above all criticize the Democratic Congress team, if we're not satified. Ron Paul's fans will probably never get that: Even IF Paul was a decent guy, his presidency would be a major threat : because behind him would be a Republican Congress team.

Our job as voters is to vote in a good Congress team. Because the best President in the world cannot make good policy without being backed by a constructive Congress. Even Karl Marx couldn't do anything else but Republican policy, if he was dominated by a Republican majority in Congress -- or he wouldn't govern at all.

Which means : after all the President is not as powerful and important as most Americans think.

Will, you don't expect to spend any of your money as you would like to do you? Don't you know that the goverment knows how to spend your money better than you do? As soon as people like you realize that you have no right to any of the money you earn, and willing turn it all over to the goverment, then all the problems in the country will be solved. Until then, it is greedy people such as yourself that are holding us back!

The war in Afghanistan can never be won because its a battle of the mind,a spiritual solution is the only solution to this situation.

Humanity desires peace but peaceful is not something you do peaceful is something you are being?

We could start by asking the Taliban some questions and help them by telling them that we can understand how they could feel that way ,that we recognize there beliefs about life and god and we would like to engage in a dialogue with them about there beliefs to see if there is more about them-and about other beliefs in the world -for you both to learn.

Even people who are doing horrible things will stop doing them ,if only for a moment,if you ask them WHY THEY ARE DOING THEM.It is not the basic nature of humans to be horrible ,loving is our basic nature,when humans are being horrible ,it is because of something they believe .

ASK THEM even in the midst of the horror-ask them.

What hurts you so much that you feel you have to hurt me to heal it?

What a wonderful question to ask,and we must be willing to listen to the answer,it is helpful to know when someone is fighting with you ,they are usually fighting for your attention.

No nations or groups or individuals think themselves as attackers.They all think of themselves as defenders.

Nobody does anything inappropriate ,given their model of the world everybody,s point of view is valid for them,and we have to be ready to say NINE WORDS THAT COULD HEAL THE WORLD.

I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW YOU COULD FEEL THAT WAY.

You have to come from the angle that you can understand how they could come to this feeling and say to them you are not alone given your beliefs ,thoughts and feelings to come to your conclusions.

To be a healer we have to understand that it is the fear that nobody else understands the problem and not been understood leads to desperation and conversely ,the feeling that someone else understands moves people back from the brink and opens the door for discussion.

All attack is seen by the attacker as a defense.Understanding this is the basis of all healing.

We are all one