Deleting swearing, sex and violence from films on DVD or VHS violates copyright laws, a U.S. judge has ruled in a decision that could end controversial sanitizing done for some video-rental chains, cable services and the internet.

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by 16 U.S. directors, including Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford and Martin Scorsese, against three Utah-based companies that “scrub” films.

Judge Richard P. Matsch decreed on Thursday in Denver, Colo., that sanitizing movies to delete content that may offend some people is an “illegitimate business.” [.continue.]

Illegitimate or not I think these companies provide a good service. Since there are about 90 companies out there doing this apparently there is a market place for them. I do think DVDs that have been ’sanitized’ should be clearly marked so someone isn’t fooled into buying an edited copy of the movie. This is all about choice, giving people that don’t want to see the sex, violence, language or gore but wants to enjoy the movie a chance to watch it.

“Their objective … is to stop the infringement because of its irreparable injury to the creative artistic expression in the copyrighted movies,” the judge wrote. “There is a public interest in providing such protection.”

Is this the same public interest that gets served by editing movies shown on broadcast TV? Language that is redub typically badly or muted out all together. Scenes deleted for content or for time constraints? Why isn’t their reputations hurt over that?

Democrat Senator Joe Biden of Delaware made some comments caught on CSPAN that some have viewed as racist. Watch for yourself, what do you think?

As a politician what he said was not politically correct according to the PC police. But was it wrong? Personally I don’t think so. The point he was making was that many Dunkin Donuts and 7-11s are run by Indians. I do not think anyone believes that Dunkin Donuts or 7-11s being run by Indians is wrong. Some believe this ’stereotype’ hurts the image of Indians. I am a fairly thick skinned person so I don’t buy it. Any person that has half a brain knows that not all or the majority of insert group of people fit into whatever type of stereotype one is spouting.

What I think many people have an issue with, at least on the conservative side is the amount of hypocrisy in the media when comparing how Biden was treated vs. how Trent Lott was treated. I tend to agree with them. Biden who was talking to the camera brought up the stereotype in trying to make a point. Trent Lott who was attending Strom Thurmonds 100th birthday party said a few kind words for Thurmond that got turned into a big deal in the media forcing Lott to resign his leadership seat. Did Lott mention race or stereotypes at all? Nope.

I think that someone trying to say some kind words about someone at his birthday party is much different than someone in front of a camera campaigning for President bringing up a stereotype.

Last Friday at work Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich stopped by for a visit. Although technically not my governor since I live in PA I was interested to see him and see what he had to say. I was standing around chatting with Tom waiting for the Gov to show when this guy approached us. Some fellow who was running for some sort of county office, think it might have been commissioner. He introduced himself to us and I let him know I didn’t live in Carroll County since housing was cheaper in PA. So he says if he is elected he would work to reduce the cost of housing. Tom chimes in saying he doesn’t want the cost to go down since he was a landowner. The fellow made a quick exit to another group of individuals mulling around. The exchange made for a good chuckle.

Ehrlich finally showed up. The college president Dr. Pappalardo said a couple words along with Maryland State Senator Larry Haines. The Gov talked for awhile about Carroll County and education. Overall the experience was pretty neat. I usually don’t get that involved in the political stuff and usually don’t get to see too many state government representatives.

Pictures were taken by Bryan, I have a bunch of them here in my gallery.
The Press Release from the college.

(June 15) — Zhang Shiqiang, known as the Nine-Fingered Devil, first tasted justice at 13. His father caught him stealing and cut off one of Zhang’s fingers.

Twenty-five years later, in 2004, Zhang met retribution once more, after his conviction for double murder and rape. He was one of the first people put to death in China’s new fleet of mobile execution chambers.

The country that executed more than four times as many convicts as the rest of the world combined last year is slowly phasing out public executions by firing squad in favor of lethal injections. Unlike the United States and Singapore, the only two other countries where death is administered by injection, China metes out capital punishment from specially equipped “death vans” that shuttle from town to town.[.continue.]

If the crime was a violent one like Zhangs it would be one thing.
But execution for tax invasion? Come on.

The US makes some Iraqis in a jail play naked twister and the US is the great evil. China rolls buses around killing 1700-8000 citizens a year many for nonviolent crimes and its just par for the course?
Let’s also not forget about what they have done in Tibet.

Ok, you convinced me.

Below is a letter written by David Stoddard retired US border patrol agent to Senator Frist. While a couple of the statements I don’t know to be true overall I agree with his stance.

Dear Senator Frist:

There is a huge amount of propaganda and myths circulating about illegal aliens, particularly illegal Mexican, Salvadorian, Guatemalan and Honduran aliens.

1. Illegal aliens generally do NOT want U.S. citizenship. Americans are very vain thinking that everybody in the world wants to be a U.S. citizen. Mexicans, and other nationalities want to remain citizens of their home countries while obtaining the benefits offered by the United States such as employment, medical care, in-state tuition, government subsidized housing and free education for their offspring. Their main attraction is employment and their loyalty usually remains at home. They want benefits earned and subsidized by middle class Americans. What illegal aliens want are benefits of American residence without paying the price.

2. There are no jobs that Americans won’t do. Illegal aliens are doing jobs that Americans can’t take and still support their families. Illegal aliens take low wage jobs, live dozens in a single residence home, share expenses and send money to their home country. There are no jobs that Americans won’t do for a decent wage.

3. Every person who illegally entered this nation left a home. They are NOT homeless and they are NOT Americans. Some left jobs in their home countries. They come to send money to their real home as evidenced by the more than 20 billion dollars sent out of the country each year by illegal aliens. These illegal aliens knowingly and willfully entered this nation in violation of the law and therefore assumed the risk of detection and deportation. Those who brought their alien children assumed the responsibility and risk on behalf of their children.

4. Illegal aliens are NOT critical to the economy. Illegal aliens constitute less than 5% of the workforce. However, they reduce wages and benefits for lawful U.S. residents.

5. This is NOT an immigrant nation. There are 280 million native born Americans. While it is true that this nation was settled and founded by immigrants (legal immigrants), it is also true that there is not a nation on this planet that was not settled by immigrants at one time or another.

6. The United States is welcoming to legal immigrants. Illegal aliens are not immigrants by definition. The U.S. accepts more lawful immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined.

7. There is no such thing as the “Hispanic vote”. Hispanics are white, brown, black and every shade in between. Hispanics are Repu blicans, Democrats, Anarchists, Communists, Marxists and Independents. The so-called “Hispanic vote” is a myth. Pandering to illegal aliens to get the Hispanic vote is a dead end.

8. Mexico is NOT a friend of the United States. Since 1848 Mexicans have resented the United States. During World War I Mexico allowed German Spies to operate freely in Mexico to spy on the U.S. During World War II Mexico allowed the Axis powers to spy on the U.S. from Mexico. During the Cold War Mexico allowed spies hostile to the U.S. to operate freely. The attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 was cheered and applauded all across Mexico. Today Mexican school children are taught that the U.S. stole California, Arizona, new Mexico and Texas. If you don’t believe it, check out some Mexican textbooks written for their schoolchildren.

9. Although some illegal aliens enter this country for a better life, there are 6 billion people on this planet. At least 1 billion of those live on less than one dollar a day. If wanting a better life is a valid excuse to break the law and sneak into America, then let’s allow those one billion to come to America and we’ll turn the USA into a Third World nation overnight. Besides, there are 280 million native born Americans who want a better life. I’ll bet Bill Gates and Donald Trump want a better life. When will the USA lifeboat be full? Since when is wanting a better life a good reason to trash another nation?

10. There is a labor shortage in this country. This is a lie. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American housewives, senior citizens, students, unemployed and underemployed who would gladly take jobs at a decent wage.

11. It is racist to want secure borders. What is racist about wanting secure borders and a secure America? What is racist about not wanting people to sneak into America and steal benefits we have set aside for legal aliens, senior citizens, children and other legal residents? What is it about race that entitles people to violate our laws, steal identities, and take the American Dream without paying the price?

For about four decades American politicians have refused to secure our borders and look after the welfare of middle class Americans. These politicians have been of both parties. A huge debt to American society has resulted. This debt will be satisfied and the interest will be high. There has already been riots in the streets by illegal aliens and their supporters. There will be more. You, as a politician, have a choice to offend the illegal aliens who have stolen into this country and demanded the rights afforded to U.S. citizens or to offend those of us who are stakeholders in this country. The interest will be steep either way. There will be civil unrest. There will be a reckoning. Do you have the courage to do what is right for America? Or, will you bow to the wants and needs of those who don’t even have the right to remain here?

There will be a reckoning. It will come in November of this year, again in 2008 and yet again in 2010.

We will not allow America to be stolen by third world agitators and thieves.

David J. Stoddard
U.S. Border Patrol (RET)
Hereford, Arizona

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - A controversial Texas program to send undercover agents into bars to arrest drunks has been halted after a firestorm of protest from the public.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has “temporarily suspended” what it called “Operation Last Call” even though it still believes it was worthwhile, commission spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said on Thursday.

“We understand that everything has room for improvement, this included,” she said.

She said most of those arrested in the sting operations had been “dangerously drunk” and might have tried to drive if TABC agents had not busted them.

The TABC has launched an internal investigation of Operation Last Call and a Texas Legislature committee will hold hearings on the program on Monday.

The TABC announced the program in late August but it received little attention at the time.

But recent media reports that drunks were being arrested in bars provoked both ridicule and anger around the world and, perhaps more importantly, complaints from hotels, restaurants and bars in Texas who said it could hurt business.

The program drew support from groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The Houston Chronicle found that 1,740 people across the state had been arrested for public intoxication in Operation Last Call.

It seems the media has brought some common sense to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

“most of those arrested in the sting operations had been “dangerously drunk” and might have tried to drive if TABC agents had not busted them.”

Most? Might? So arrest all the legally drunk people because some might want to drive? How insane is that? What if they have a designated driver, was going to walk, or catch a cab?
Why not just hang out in the parking lot and test individuals that get in the drivers seat of a vehicle? Doesn’t that make more sense then lurking about in the bar?

With all the chatter happening lately with South Park and not showing an image of Mohammed it is interesting to see this. Air Arabia on their website has a South Park character in Middle Eastern garb. Air Arabia being a low budget airline in the Middle East.

This got me thinking a bit. I bet South Park plays pretty well over there. While South Park itself isn’t anti-American, for those that hold anti-American beliefs the show probably helps solidify those beliefs and is very enjoyable. The adults in the show are portrayed as stupid and our pop culture, religious beliefs and political system is constantly being poked at and lampooned or simply just made fun of. There is nothing wrong with that, its part of a free and open society. So in a sense the show is enjoyed by people that are open minded and those that are closed minded, at the same time. That is unless you show an image of Mohammed.

I have always like South Park it is a great show, always being funny, relevant to current political and social climate and always pushing the envelope. Nothing is safe from being poked at and made fun of. The thing is South Park doesn’t make fun of things/people in a childish way (well except maybe Tom Cruise) just to make fun of them, there is always a reason for it.
So nothing is safe, until now, at least that’s what Comedy Central thought.

Back in February I talked about the big deal made out of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. Apparently the fear media companies feel in the US which did NOT start this ‘uproar’ has not gone away. And it appears that Comedy Central has been scared enough to ‘bury their heads in the sand’ so to speak. In the part two of the South Park episode Cartoon Wars, Mohammed was to appear for maybe 5 seconds. He was to hand a football helmet with a fish on it, say a couple words and leave. That’s it. Instead of seeing the 5 second clip with Mohammed, everyone saw this.

I am not sure if this is actually authentic, if not this is suppose to be pretty darn close of how the clip was suppose to look before Comedy Central lost their bawls.

Anyone deeply offended over that so much that you would go out and kill innocent people? Actually let me put it a different way. Is anyone that wouldn’t already kill innocent people because they are not Muslim offended so deeply that it would make you commit violence?
I think not.

I wonder if Comedy Central actually watched the episode or they just said no, since not allowing it made Comedy Central look really really bad for a couple reasons. One, the whole point of episode is to not let fear dictate what you say or show. Nowadays that’s called terrorism, in the old days that use to be a type of extortion or blackmail.
The second being the hypocrisy that is the big media in regards to Christianity. We can’t show any image of Mohammed, but we are allowed to show Jesus defecating (crapping) on people including the President as shown here.

Are some people offended? Sure, but is anyone going out to commit violence over that?
I think not.

So Comedy Central saved the day by not showing an image of Mohammed. Well the fact is they have already done so, and he was shown for much longer than 5 seconds. On July 4, 2001 Episode 504 The Super Best Friends.
Yeah it was before 9/11, but not showing Mohammed isn’t a new ‘rule’. It’s been around for a good while or so they say. So here you can watch it in its entirety. The episode Comedy Central forgot they already aired.

This makes me wonder, repeats are always shown on Comedy Central. Is this show banned from being repeated? It probably will be and apparently there are some other episodes that won’t be run again. As seen here it seems that Mohammed has been in every episode of season 10, wonder if that will change.

He is standing under Satan, hard to see in my pict. Here is a larger version of it.

South Park has been a cash cow for Comedy Central. As of last year South Park was Comedy Centrals #1 most watched show. I wonder if the censorship by Comedy Central would ever make the South Park creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone consider moving the show to a different network. You can let Comedy Central know what you think about this here.

More information about the South Park Mohammed situation can be found here, here, and the best info here.

This is a problem with the Muslim Mid Eastern culture vs everywhere else. This isn’t all Muslims in that region, just the radical ones, you know the ones force others to blow up the innocent. These seem to be the ones in power. Here like in most places (except China, North Korea and a couple others) we have freedoms to do and say for the most part what we want. Over there these things are not allowed. So how do we resolve this conflict? Choices seem to be either do as they say or not. If we do what they want we become less free and at some point become a Muslim state, since that IS what they want. If we don’t do as they say, then we would have to live with those consequences which does involve violence against the rest of us. This also leads to more choices. Do we just ignore them? Conquer them? Or maybe pull them along to becoming a free and open democracy? Even that choice leads to more choices on how to accomplish this. Some say this can’t be done. Their culture hasn’t evolved that far yet, they haven’t had a Magna Carta experience yet. Others point to the fact that people want to be free if they have the chance and it can be done. We are currently seeing this ‘experiment’ unfold in Iraq. Can this work with all the outside pressures determined to have it fail? For peace around the world for many future generations, I hope it succeeds.

This editorial cartoon showed up in my local paper on Sunday and it got me thinking.
First I didn’t think there wasn’t any truth to it. I mean illegal aliens don’t have any legal paperwork with them, are they not paid ‘under the table’? I figure most illegals are paid this way. These individuals are paying nothing into Social Security, Medicare, other Federal taxes, state and local taxes. How much money in tax revenue is each level of government losing? So I wonder where this $7billion figure comes from. Some articles point out that illegals acquire a fake/stolen/whatever social security number and that’s how they are paying into the system. But that raises other questions.
Who is supplying these individuals with fake SS#s?
Why is the Social Security Administration along with other Federal agencies not stopping this fraud?
These go along with other questions like…
Why are the appropriate federal agencies not enforcing the current laws regarding illegal aliens? When they are caught why are they not taken back to their country of origin?
How can illegal aliens protest, state on national TV that they are in fact illegally in this country and nothing happen to them?

The Federal government is broken in so many areas in regards to illegal aliens. The mainstream media spends all day covering the protests, but I see no investigated reporting into how and why the government is failing in doing its duty with upholding the law.

Whether the illegals already here should be made citizens or not should not be the only thing debated and studied. How/why is the system broken and how it should be fixed should be the main focus of this ‘eform’. Even if you give all the illegals citizenship the system is still broken.