Monthly Archive for September, 2006

Maybe they’ll put him on eBay!

Published
by
Bryan
on Saturday, 23 September 2006
in Notes
. 0 Comments

So Jennifer was clicking through Google News yesterday when she came across a wonderfully hysterical headline. I took a screenshot for your enjoyment:

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I promise that no editing on my part was done. As if “bought to justice” wasn’t delicious enough, there’s the “Bush dances light fantastic” section just below. I have no idea what “dances light fantastic” means, although I doubt it would be approved by the Christian Coalition.

In fairness, the “bought to justice” was the fault of the PakTribune

origbought.png

Update: Well, apparently “dances light fantastic” means to dance gracefully, referencing a John Milton poem from 1645. Learn something new everyday…

Maybe it’s a big truck in a tube?

Published
by
Bryan
on Tuesday, 19 September 2006
in Notes
. 0 Comments

Ars Technica is reporting that a poll conducted by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation indicates that most Americans have no idea what network neutrality is, nor do they care. By the way, the chair of that committee is Ted “The internet is not a big truck!” Stevens (R-AK), who clearly has no clue, even on a simplistic level, as to what makes the internet work .

Then there’s this little gem, brought to us by the poor old folks at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, that is running in various television markets.

Are you google-eyed with confusion over net neutrality? No wonder, it’s all just clever mumbo jumbo. Net neutrality is nothing more than a scheme by the multi-billion dollar silicon valley tech companies, to get you, the consumer to pay more for their services. Forget all their mumbo jumbo, net neutrality simply means, you pay.

Of course, this is completely backwards. It’s the ISPs that want the consumer to pay more for access to the “billion dollar silicon valley tech companies”. It’s just wonderful hearing the multi-billion dollar cable industry critiquing corporations like Google for being billion dollar companies. These are the same ISPs that drove out or bought up all of the independent ISPs when the 1996 Telcommunications Act was passed. Of course, service providers have always delievered what they promised, especially when it was paid for with public money.

The good news is that, while folks like Ted Stevens and the multi-billion dollar cable industry might be shifting things in one direction, groups like the Christian Coalition and MoveOn.org are favoring network neutrality. Even the Gun Owners of America are against the tiered-internet proposal and in favor of keeping the internet neutral - or no less neutral then it is currently. It’s not often those three groups lie down in the same bed (I bet the Christian Coalition would love that analogy). Hopefully, the broad constituency of these groups is enough to get folks educated on the issue so that misleading ads, like the one above, don’t have as great of an impact.

More informaton is also available at SavetheInternet.com

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I’m not a politician, but I play one on TV…

Published
by
Bryan
on Tuesday, 12 September 2006
in Political
. 1 Comment

I’ve had a few conversations about the upcoming race for governor of California. Admittedly, I’m in a bit of a quandary. While there’s no way I can bring myself to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’m very torn on whether or not I can actually cast my vote for Phil Angelides.

Don’t get me wrong, I really want to vote for Phil Angelides - or at least, I want to want to vote for Phil Angelides. Democracts have done little to convince me they are taking the right path, so I’m skeptical of them from the start. For every Barney Frank or Barack Obama, there’s a Hillary Clinton taking a stand against the evils of video games - and I still haven’t forgiven Tipper Gore for her PMRC involvement.

So my skepticism of Phil Angelides is not totally unwarranted. What isn’t helping him, in my view, are advertisements like this:

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Hey, Phil - you’re a politician - you’re below lawyers, insurance salesmen, and even actors, on the slimiest-profession totem pole. And while I personally despise Schwarzenegger as our governor, Californians did recall the last Democratic leader to hold that office. In fairness, I haven’t seen this ad in a while, but I still think it was a stupid idea for a career politician, who also happens to be a member of a party so brain dead that they don’t control Congress or the White House, to start playing these kinds of holier-than-thou games. It just reeks of desperation.

According to most polls, there are reasons for Angelides to be a bit desperate. Almost every poll I’ve seen shows Angelides behind Schwarzenegger by as many as eight points. How times have changed from a year ago, when Schwarzenegger’s four propositions sank like a metal endoskeleton. Just five months ago he was desperately trying to keep his approval rating above 40%. Funny how people seem to like Republicans a hell of a lot more when there’s a Democrat in the picture.

Truth be told, I’ll probably hold my nose and vote for Phil - but I’ll do so begrudgingly. Or I’ll end up voting for the Green Party’s Peter Camejo - which guarantees a vote for someone who will not end up being a colossal disappointment.

The Act or Process of Conquering

Published
by
Bryan
on Wednesday, 6 September 2006
in Notes
. 0 Comments

Things are finally settling down. Our move to the new place is officially complete. (Hopefully) I’ll be motivated to update more frequently.

So it turns out that drunken undergraduates aren’t the only ones causing trouble in Isla Vista:

I.V. Uprooted (The Santa Barbara Independent)

More than 50 Isla Vista families will be scrambling for new lodgings in the next few weeks, having received 30-day notices to vacate the Cedarwood Apartments. The notices were issued by Dennis P. Block and Associates of Los Angeles, a law firm specializing in evictions. Claiming at least 100,000 evictions in 30 years of business, Block bragged that his firm has ?evicted more tenants than any other firm on the planet Earth.? Asked whether the tenants would receive relocation assistance, Block responded that his client would ?follow the law???nothing less, and nothing more.? His client is a limited liability corporation known only as 6626 Picasso???Cedarwood?s address.

According to the Isla Vista Tenants Union (via the Daily Kos), the perpetrator of this atrocity is Conquest Student Housing, based in Los Angeles.

There is a rumor spreading that the Isla Vista Property Owners Association has opposed these evictions - although that’s the same organization that opposed the just-cause eviction ordinance that was proposed to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors back in 1998 - when these sorts of evictions started happening. Since 1998, Isla Vista is averaging about one mass eviction every two years. If the IVPA really does care about families such as these, they should put their money - their humongous stacks of money - where their mouths are and support an ordinance.

Isla Vista will continue to suffer greatly until it either gets incorporated (into Goleta or Santa Barbara, and over their dead bodies) or the County Board of Supervisors stops messing around and directly addresses the quality of life issues that Isla Vista faces. Frankly, I don’t think the Board of Supervisors really give a damn about Isla Vista, nor do I think Goleta or Santa Barbara want to inherit what they view as a mess (never mind the sales income Isla Vista residents generate for Goleta - especially Goleta). While these politicians keep messing around, the 98% tenant population continues to get the shaft.