Category Archives: Politics

a message from webcameron

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to raincoaster. Well, a message from YouTube to raincoaster, but conveying a very clear message from webcameron. Why don’t I just paste what I put on the Boris Johnson blog:

Well it looks like some of them aren’t quite as “sharing and caring” as they claim. Look what my YouTube posting of the webcameron video got me:

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by The Conservative Party claiming that this material is infringing:

Cameron and Johnson on Webcameron: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKSfQ6wGAsM

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, to be effective it must be a written communication provided to our designated agent that includes substantially the following (please consult your legal counsel or see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3) to confirm these requirements):

(A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.

(B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.

(C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.

(D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriberis address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

Such written notice should be sent to our designated agent as follows:

DMCA Complaints
YouTube, Inc.
1000 Cherry Ave.
Second Floor
San Bruno, CA 94066
Email: copyright@youtube.com

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 YouTube, Inc.

Wibbler, watch your back. It appears they’re not as interested in spreading their message as they are in retaining control over it. I guess they DO want to limit the audience to people who can afford iPods.

I thought of sending the info to these guys, but they haven’t updated in four years (can’t be for lack of demand). As I said on my blog, it seems bizarre that they would distribute this only through means that cannot be shared, but must be viewed on an individual basis. Allowing a YouTube or other embedded player to be distributed in blogs would spread the message widely, in truly democratic fashion. I guess that’s not what this is about. Ah well, I shoulda known. They’re Tories.

Iraq: how to cut and run, by Lt. Gen. WILLIAM E. ODOM

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This was linked by idlex over on the Bojo blog, and a very interesting read it is, too. The current situation in Iraq is morally, fiscally, and militarily unsupportable, and now that the election is over it can’t even be explained away by the need to pimp the vote. Surely Bush can’t hope to keep this horrible, blood-sucking, pointless conflict going long enough to have an impact on the next federal election…he’s not a complete microcephalic moron.

Oh, right.

In any case, the descent of Iraq into civil war is at this point inevitable, as it may indeed have been from the outset. When you remove a dictator and fail to replace him immediately with at least a bureaucracy that will make the trains run on time, you doom yourself to the futile and deadly task of attempting to keep an order that simply does not exist to be kept.

Here is the step by step instruction manual on How to Cut and Run, by someone who knows what he’s talking about, unlike those chickenhawks in the White House Cabal.

We could lead the Mideast to peace, but only if we stop refusing to do the right thing

By William E. Odom
Lt. Gen. WILLIAM E. ODOM (Ret.) is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a professor at Yale University.

October 31, 2006

THE UNITED STATES upset the regional balance in the Middle East when it invaded Iraq. Restoring it requires bold initiatives, but “cutting and running” must precede them all. Only a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops — within six months and with no preconditions — can break the paralysis that now enfeebles our diplomacy. And the greatest obstacles to cutting and running are the psychological inhibitions of our leaders and the public.

Our leaders do not act because their reputations are at stake. The public does not force them to act because it is blinded by the president’s conjured set of illusions: that we are reducing terrorism by fighting in Iraq; creating democracy there; preventing the spread of nuclear weapons; making Israel more secure; not allowing our fallen soldiers to have died in vain; and others.

But reality can no longer be avoided. It is beyond U.S. power to prevent bloody sectarian violence in Iraq, the growing influence of Iran throughout the region, the probable spread of Sunni-Shiite strife to neighboring Arab states, the eventual rise to power of the anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr or some other anti-American leader in Baghdad, and the spread of instability beyond Iraq. All of these things and more became unavoidable the day that U.S. forces invaded.

These realities get worse every day that our forces remain in Iraq. They can’t be wished away by clever diplomacy or by leaving our forces in Iraq for several more years…

West Side Story: The Zombie Version

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aka 45 Years Later

Britney(?) sex tape not Britney

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Britney says hi boys!Awwww. Turns out that the rumoured “Britney sex tape” isn’t Britney. Fleshbot has the final word, as well as the actual video, so satisfy your… curiosity yeah, that’s it, curiosity, with this link.

But on the other hand, the hopes and dreams of millions of men who were kinda sorta hoping she’d be better at giving head are preserved.

The Democrats have the House.

The Democrats may take the Senate. 

Rummy is out of a job.

And Britney Spears is a free woman and could, possibly, be really good at giving head.

It’s Springtime in America!

imprisoned video blogger accepts award

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He's watching...Do you know the tale of Josh Wolf? He’s a video blogger who filmed people taking part in a protest and who was then ordered to turn over his footage to a Grand Jury investigating the protest. He refused, citing journalistic privilege, and promptly found out the government doesn’t consider videocasters to be journalists, at least not when it doesn’t want to. He’s currently serving his indefinite sentence in Dublin, California; he’s been told he’ll be released when the Grand Jury ends, which is projected for July of next year.

At the recent Vloggie Awards, Josh won the People’s Choice Award for Best Male Vlogger (they split these things up by gender? You’ve got to be kidding me!) and his video, All Empires Must Fall, won the Judge’s Choice Award for Most Controversal Video, which it undoubtably was. The goverment declined to let Josh out to pick up his award, figuring no doubt that someone there would surely throw a blanket over him and smuggle him offshore to some copyright-free banana republic, from whence he would fire YouTubes of such intensity that they would shake the very foundation of the nation.

Or maybe they just thought nah, fuck ‘im!

In any case, Josh‘s big day came and went with no Josh, but with a letter written from prison and read out on the podium, and here it is, although Robert Scoble had it first.

It seems like mere moments ago that I was here in this venue for blogger con. I remember telling my story about how the federal government was trying to send me to prison for refusing to turn over my unpublished material and testify in front of a grand jury for asserting that I am a journalist, and for refusing to be an agent for the government by providing intelligence to aid in an anarchist witch hunt. Some were shocked by my story, others were not surprised that the government would go to such lengths, and still others maintained disbelief, preferring to think of me as the boy who cried wolf, rather than opening themselves up to the idea that their government would do such a thing.

That weekend at vlogger con was one of the best in my life. It was euphoric getting to hang out and party with so many stellar individuals, and I am disheartened that I can only join you in sprit to tonight. I’ve always heard that the best par t of award shows are the after parties and I’m sure that it will be a rocking good time. I’ll be there for the next one.

Thanks for the awards guys. It feels good to know that I’ve been able to stir up a bit of controversy in the blogosphere and I’m touched by being awarded best male blogger.

I’d like to thank everyone who has blogged or vlogged about my situation, whether you are in agreement with what I’m doing or not, and I’d also like to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this endeavor, whether its through sending me books or letters, donating money to my legal fund or helping out with my blog, wiki or the various projects I’ve been involved with.

Thank you all and have fun tonight I’ll be out soon enough.