Posts Tagged ‘party’

Censorship Backfires Again

Saturday, May 19th, 2012

It’s institutionalized buffoonery gone amok! The UK government decided to ban access to the massive file-sharing web site known as The Pirate Bay. As a result, the UK Pirate Party has seen their online rankings skyrocket by more than 100,000 spots.

The impressive jump comes as British law-makers, much like their counterparts from around the world, are bending over at the waist to serve powerful media giants. These old behemoth industries can’t reshape their business models fast enough to keep up with the ever increasing rate of progress so they use their clout to pass laws in a vain attempt to cripple the competition.

But here’s the kicker: the government’s blockade is so easily circumventable that it’s practically a joke. Anyone who has a basic understanding of the Internet (i.e. the majority of file-sharers affected by the ban) will quickly find out how to get around the censorship.

So movies and games will continue to flow freely and the media giants will go on viewing piracy as lost sales rather than a form of advertising. But now, thanks to idiotic policy at the highest levels, Pirate Party UK have been launched into the limelight and are cleared to follow in the footsteps of German’s Pirate Party, who’ve already secured 20 seats in parliament and are polling at 11%.

Awesome stuff. It shows humankind still has a fighting chance against the encroaching corporate dictatorship. Let freedom prevail!

Bill Maher: Dropping the Ball

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Funnyman Bill Maher has long been a voice of the people, daring to speak what few others would risk saying, and he does it all on national TV. His ‘New Rules’ segment, often timely and inspiring, usually place Maher’s insights on the forefront of the progressive movement.

However, it can be extremely frustrating to see him consistently fall into the trap of the two-party dictatorship. Time and time again, Bill Maher will lament about his precious Democrats standing strong, only to crumble at the last minute. And, no matter how much Obama strays from the liberal agenda, Maher still pledges die-hard support behind his guy.

Maher fails to recognize that both Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin, offering the public the illusion of choice, while the super-rich and the corporations run away with the political system. Or maybe he does realize this, and, as a super-rich guy himself, he’s okay with it.

Case and point, a few weeks back Bill Maher openly supported SOPA without even researching what the draconian legislation would entail. He just blindly stated that whatever stops file-sharing is a good thing, no matter how bad liberties and internet freedoms get squashed. Talk about missing the mark.

And now, on his latest episode, Bill Maher spoke out against the people’s uprising, calling the Occupy protesters “Douchebags” who need to “Get A Job”.  Wow, Maher sure has fallen prey to the mainstream media’s framing of the narrative.

Little does Bill Maher know, the Occupy movement grows stronger with every new day. Never has there been more numbers involved, and those who are involved are more organized, mobilized and better focused than ever before.

Time will tell if Maher does an about face to rejoin the progressive movement. If he doesn’t, then he risks being amongst the rest of the greedy oligarchs who get ostracized when the impending revolution is finally realized.