Well well well…  it’s been too long internet blog.  Did you miss me?  Well, you better start streching your css-glossed perl souce code because I’m back and ready to party.

I have started using google calendar to track my work sched (as well as other stuff)… check it out:

I am a huge digg addict. I spent most of my time on the web there, reading about useful and useless info. Here is a cool widget designed by digg.com staff to update everyone on what I’ve been digging (or just checkout this page):

Ron Paul and Kuchinich introduced an awesome bill 4 years ago… shot down. Maybe it’ll be revived again soon?

The True Patriot Act

Last week my friends and I partaked in the 3rd annual Zombie Pub Crawl.

It was a riot, I encourage everyone to go next year!

www.zombiepubcrawl.com

It even made the front page of fark!   A few more pics here.

I’ve had many conversations lately about American politics and it’s current state. Sometimes, the topic of facism comes up. Wikipedia losely defines it, but I’ve found (what I believe) to be a good overview:

Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, published research on fascism in which he examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each fascist State:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarceration of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists; terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military are glamorized.

5. Rampant sexism - The government of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are intertwined - Government in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation are often the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or are severely restricted.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassinations of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Sound familiar?   Taken from here.

This about sums it up for me…  great excerpt

This is a cool flash animation displaying human origins.  Halfway through, a giant eruption kills most of the human population.  I had never heard of Mt. Toba before this, but now I am intrigued.  It caused a 6 year nuclear winter and buried parts of Indonesia in 20 feet of ash.  Whoa!

A month or so ago I picked up a Slingbox from Amazon.com.   This toy lets me hook up a Satellite or Cable box to the internet and watch TV anywhere I can get an internet connection (mobile phones, laptops).  It’s a cool piece of technology!

Pretty interesting vote coming up… should the government be allowed to detain you without reasonable cause? Sounds like one of the key foundations to American freedom. Why do some politicians hate our freedom?