Cleanternet: For A Cleaner and Safer Internet

Who doesn't want a cleaner internet?! Who doesn't want to put a stop to Child pornography, as well as, all the other evils that come with the internet. We all do want a cleaner internet, and Cleanternet is the solution. Lets all raise our hands in support of this progressive movement....

Click here for a video demonstration about the proposal for Cleanternet...

Barack Obama Speaks About Religion And Secularism

Click here for a Youtube video, showing a very interesting speech made by the US President, Barack Obama.

I loved the whole speech, especially the part that says:

"Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of what's possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It's the art of the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences.

To base one's life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime, but to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing. And if you doubt that, let me give you an example.

We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is ordered by God to offer up his only son, and without argument, he takes Isaac to the mountaintop, binds him to an altar, and raises his knife, prepared to act as God has commanded.

Of course, in the end God sends down an angel to intercede at the very last minute, and Abraham passes God's test of devotion.

But it's fair to say that if any of us leaving this church saw Abraham on a roof of a building raising his knife, we would, at the very least, call the police and expect the Department of Children and Family Services to take Isaac away from Abraham. We would do so because we do not hear what Abraham hears, do not see what Abraham sees, true as those experiences may be. So the best we can do is act in accordance with those things that we all see, and that we all hear, be it common laws or basic reason." - Barack Obama

For the full speech click here

Some Comments Have Been Lost

While I was browsing some of the old blog posts here on my blog, I noticed some posts that had "0 comments", which I was pretty sure that I did receive several comments on. Needless to say, I never authorized such a deletion of contents and I am very disappointed how Google would let something like this happen. I did not suppose Google would be unreliable so as to lose dozens of comments on this blog.

I am going to communicate with Google in an attempt to retrieve as much as possible of the lost comments (I think its unlikely they lost the content for good, although I cannot be sure how co-operative they will be in this regard).

Anyways, any concerned blogger should recheck old posts for missing comments. If my observation is correct, the affected posts are those made during or before the year 2006.

Digital Copies Are Not Theft

Some proponents of digital copyright laws make the conjecture that "pirating" movies and music is an act of theft, and that it constitutes in some way stealing. However, this is completely ludicrous as the concept of theft is directly constructed on the concept of starvation.

The concept of starvation is that when someone steals an item, the owner of that item loses it. So if a thief steals your car, you can no longer have that car. While theft might not be universally evil in all situations (consider a starving man stealing food to stay alive - X-Ref), but digital copies are in no way resembling the act of theft. Simply put, there is no starvation in a digital world. Pirated copies are, as the name suggests, "copies" and the content in question is still available to its original owner.

However, don't jump to conclusions. Proving that pirating digital material is not theft, is not a sufficient argument for the legitimacy of piracy. However, it is imperative to make this distinction when corporations are willing to make any argument, no matter how ridiculous, to delegitimize digital piracy.

Richard Dawkins Planning to Get the Pope Arrested

Richard Dawkins - atheist campaigner and evolutionist - is planning to have Pope Benedict XVI arrested when he comes to Britain later this year for "crimes against humanity".

As most people know, Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of involvement in the cover up operation of child-molestation executed by some priests. However, at that time there was no legal action taken against him to hold him responsible in helping the priests in question avoid legal liability.

The major setback in this case is that the Pope is head of state (the Vatican), which provides immunity from prosecution. However, Dawkins is hoping to create a legal case which can circumvent the immunity given to the Pope.

Another case-in-point is that this alleged cover up has been done while the Pope was still a Cardinal. This is useful, because the immunity from prosecution is given to crimes that the head of state commits while being in the said position -not before. Hence, the Pope would be charged for an offense before he actually became Pope, and this might help make a legal case for the prosecution.

Click here for news item
Click here for Richard Dawkins blog entry