It's sad when we have to create laws simply to keep people and businesses from doing things that are intuitively evil and wrong.

Props to savetheinternet.com. They are trying to push a bill called the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, which would stop Big Businesses from twisting the existing system of internet to their own design, and screw over independent artists and labels.

Data service providers are pressuring Congress to allow them to create different levels of internet access speed; not to the music and media consumers, but to the providers. Media providers willing to pay more money would have their content moved through the internet at a preferred/faster rate. We can also look at this from another point of view: those who cannot or will not pay extra get their data traffic slopped into the slow lane.

So it won't matter if you have a full-blown 25GBPS connection, if you aren't accessing sites that can afford "Premier Platinum Top-Shelf Delivery" you're going to be remembering what it was like when you had a 28.8 dial-up modem. OK, maybe that's a bit harsh, but not impossible. But the problem is worse than simply an issue of speed, and it goes deeper than just music.

The phone companies should not be allowed to monitor your voice communication and edit out swear words, or political phrases they don't agree with, right?

Internet Service Providers should not be allowed to block blog posts that are anti-Republican, or Anti-Anything, right?

But we've already seen AT&T censor political statements during their web broadcasts. If the Republican Party can afford to pay AT&T more money, their messages get premium (read: unfiltered) service. If the Green Party can't.... well, without some intervention this is where the system is headed.

Comparing this to the way the cable company works is not an accurate analogy. The cable company decides their own content, and they can make you pay more for better content. This makes sense; you pay for content. Data service providers have NOTHING to do with the content coming through them. They are a service, and they have no right to tamper with the data going through their pipes, unless they would like to be held responsible. Do you think AT&T could be held responsible for providing data service to terrorists? Could your internet service provider be held responsible for allowing you access to illegal pornography, or allowing someone to send e-mails about how to construct an atomic bomb?

This is the very reason the FCC exists, to stop nonsense like this from happening. Otherwise, the services might just as well be deregulated, shut down the FCC and save the taxpayers a few billion.

Thank goodness a more reasonable solution was devised, a bill called The Internet Freedom Preservation Act or HR5353, which basically tells data service providers to leave the system the way it is, and let the data flow "...without unreasonable interference or discrimination..."

What you can to do help is make your representative aware of this bill, savetheinternet.com provides a simple way for you to get in contact with your rep and a prepared text to make him/her aware of the situation, and hopefully get the bill passed into law.

Props (as always) the Future of Music Coalition for the linkage and their ongoing efforts to maintain Net Neutrality.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Business Phenomena, Call To Action, Cool Website, Good Cause, political

While I find politics as distasteful as Emo music, and as boring as watching golf on television, it does give me an abundant supply of material to blog about.

Take votechooser.com for instance. Select your opinions on the issues that matter, and Vote Chooser selects the candidate whose opinions most closely match your own...

...except for one large detail.

Did you notice that only Republicans and Democrats are represented? There are other parties, you know. In fact, those who come to see Jagged Spiral perform at Club Underground tonight will get to hear me announce an entirely new and different political party! All the more reason to brave the cold and come out to hear some live, loud guitars!

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Concert, Jagged Spiral, political, Politics

What happened?

As reported by the Future of Music Coalition, it seems that AT&T censored anti-Bush lyrics sung by Pearl Jam front man, Eddie Vedder during their recent "blue room" webcast from Lollapolooza.

Read Pearl Jam's Press Release on the issue here.

Wired has also dug up other instances of censorship at AT&T, including Tom Petty, the Nightwatchmen, and others, at other webcast music festivals.

AT&T admitted to the censorship, but said it has to censor foul language. Strangely, this report suggests otherwise:

"AT&T originally said that it only edits Blue Room Webcasts for profanity since the site is available to all age groups. But a group calling itself the Future of Music Coalition, counted 20 instances of curse words being used during the Pearl Jam Webcast that were not censored by the content monitor."

So, AT&T seems to think that cursing is NOT profanity, since it was allowed, but saying "George Bush, leave this world alone!" IS profanity, because it was censored.

Got that?

Why is this a problem?

The analogy would be the power company shutting off your power because you were using it to run your skilsaw to make "Anti Bush" signs for your frontyard. Or, the phone company shutting down your voice every time you tried to tell your parents what a blithering idiot George Bush is.

For a country that was founded on freedom of speech, this kind of activity is worse than simply unacceptable. We simply cannot allow people to censor the speech of others simply because they have the power to do so; that is beyond Unconstitutional. Any company that would edit out Anti-Bush comments during a webcast would also disable access to websites/blogs/news/etc.. of any content they did not agree with.

If we allow this, then we might just as well burn the Constitution of the United States of America, and let the Anarchy begin. Personally, I'm fine with either way, but I think most people would prefer we all just follow the rules, since it has gotten us quite far with few internal wars.

What can you do about it?

Well, your options here are limited.

1. Storm the White House, take the Constitution of the United States, and burn it. Unfortunately, if AT&T provides the webcast, no one will see it, so your Anarchy will be pretty limited.


2. Storm AT&T, take the CEO's underwear, and burn them (while he is still wearing them). Post the video to YouTube. This will show people that Americans won't put up with censorship.


3. Support the Future of Music Coalition, even if that means just subscribing to their free newsletter and passing along stories like this one, and make sure the word gets out there to people: Here is PROOF that the Man is keeping you down! Here is a CRIMINAL caught in the act! It's not just rumor, it's not just hear-say, and it's not an isolated incident. Anyone with an Internet connection can see this for themselves.


4. Resume your life of Quiet Desperation.


KTHXBYE,
-CZ

Labels: political, Politics

If you aren't into Internet Radio yet, you should be. Check these sites out:

Accuradio
Live365
Pandora
Digital Gunfire (My personal favorite)

Do you enjoy the content? Diverse huh? Cool, huh?

Not for long. Internet Radio sites are being unfairly shafted by 'The Man'. They need your help. Check the following link, they do a better job of defining the problem than I do.




The solution is to call your Congressional Representative, and tell them (don't ask, that's not how it works.) TELL your representative to cosponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act, or forever hold your tongue about how internet radio became the same bland shit as terrestrial radio.

You have until 15 July 2007.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: Call To Action, Music Industry, political, Politics

I wasn't aware that gamerz needed a "voice". Aparrently, the Entertainment Consumers Association at www.right2game.com thinks they do. Their adverts and website claim yet another version of 'the Man keeping us down' and suggest you supplement the cause.

Is there a demographic left that doesn't have it's own political platform? Some organization put together as fast as they can slap a 3-letter acronym on it, so people can "Make their voice heard" and "defend against threatening political activity"?

I have an idea - since over 90 percent of Americans are idiots, I came to the realization that their needs aren't being met by the government. I have invented an assocation for them, (literally, I just now thought this up) the A.S.S. which stands for Assocation for Stupid Sitizins. The odds are good that someone you know is an idiot (YOU of course, are not an idiot, YOU are an intelligent, thoughtful, bright, and uber-cool individual, for the simple fact that you read this blog.)

The A.S.S. is here to represent Stupid People, and make sure that their voice can be heard, preserve their right to be idiots, and that they receive the freedoms they are entitled to. Just send me money, and I will make sure that the Idiots of America have a voice. Because if anyone is qualified to be a 'Voice' for the American Idiot, it's me.

I'm Conrad Zero, and I approve this message.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: anti, political, Video Games

Someone can tell all the idiots in Washington D.C. to go home now, and get real jobs. Thanks much, but we can handle it from here.

How's that you ask? How are we, meager, mild-mannered citizens able to take control of decisions made at a national level? We already do.

I will admit it's kind of sad that the best model for our government comes from a 'Reality' TV show, but no one can deny that it operates under true democracy. Issues can be listed on the evening news, and concerned citizens can cast their vote by phone, or internet, or e-mail ballot. A computer (which really needs to be called "Big Brother" or "Deep Thought"...) can track the votes, and debates can be held on www.wikipedia.org. Hell, Simon can even provide running commentary; he can turn to the board and say, 'Survey Says...' every time the numbers are updated like on Family Feud. We could have Vanna White stand there and do the same thing she does on Wheel of Fortune: Nothing.

To keep the process fair, everyone must have access to TV/radio/phone/internet. Thanks to the public library system, broadcast TV, and public radio, this is mostly the case.

No more 'Representatives' who have their own agendas and can be swayed by special interest groups. No more 'Electoral College' bullshit. Are you Anti-Abortion? Anti-Gun? Anti-Dashboard Confessional? Cast your vote, and if you are in the minority, deal with it. Fuck the 'checks and balances' and the '3-ring circus'.

No more Jury system. Broadcast all trials on TV/internet, and everyone turns in their vote. All the money that went into funding our 'representatives' can be reduced to a roomful of servers and a handful of underpaid geeks to play Oblivion and reboot the servers when they crash.

It will be argued that this system would be prone to some problems, for instance, if 51% of Americans hated Michael Jackson, they might have voted his plastic ass into prison just because they didn't like him, and not based on whether he was guilty or not. The same case can be made rich people/parties buying up the votes of the people who don't give a damn. I can see the commercials now, "Vote to Burn all of Dashboard Confessional's Albums and their lead signer, and I will give you one dollar! Paid for by the Conrad Hates Dashboard Confessional committee."

This argument is a valid one, but I never said that Democracy was the best system of Government. Especially for a group of people as narrow, selfish, and uneducated as Americans, but I'm saying it would be a true democracy, and not the sham we have now.


Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: americans, Million Dollar Idea, political

OK, I just need to clear up this minor misconception. I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with Jonathon (the Impaler) Sharkey, (AKA: 'The Dark Count') who is currently running for Govenor of MN, and also will be running for President in the 2008 election. [Editor's Note May 2007: Hyperlink here has been removed. The site was pulled and replaced with ads.]

Furthermore, I am not a member of the Vampyres, Witches and Pagans Party.

It has been pointed out to me by certain people that Jonathon and I have the Exact Same Gothic Cross necklace. I have been informed that dressing like a Hecate Witch/Satanic/Sanguinarian Vampyre/Ordained Dark Priest is a Great-Big-Fashion-NO, and bad for my street cred. (Especially one who is studying to become a Hecate *High* Priest)

The suggestion that we tend to dress alike is preposterous, and I've provided proof below:



The differences are obvious. You can tell from the picture that I piss more evil before breakfast than Jonathan the Choir Boy has seen in his lifetime. (I'm the one on the left.)

From Jonathan's own website: [Editors Update June 2007 - Website link retracted, as website was pulled and replaced with ads.]


Jonathon's first "Spell" ever, was a "Death Curse." Though Jonathon is very pleasant to be around, he is a follower of the "Dark Side" of "The Craft." His powers and abilities are unmatched!


I'm speechless.

Jonathon, I'm sorry, but Satan is my personal psychiatrist, and he's Never Fucking Heard Of You.

H.S.,
-CZ

Labels: political, Politics

Dear Councilman Krantz,

Thank you for the invitation to the meeting concerning the recent pedestrian accident at Co. Rd. 81 near 48th Ave.

While I don’t mean to belittle the accident, it was an isolated incident, and certainly not any kind of trend. The accident rate for Co. Rd 81 is far lower than anyone would expect; given the volume of traffic on 81, and the neighboring population density. Therefore, to suddenly come to the decision/reaction that, '...something must be done to make this stretch of road safer...' is a poor one, when compared to other areas we could focus resources on. For example, on 12 October, 2005, a group of masked men broke into the house next door, and beat and robbed their family at gunpoint, which, to me is much more horrifying than a traffic accident, and if you will check the statistics; Much More Common. I don’t recall any mailings sent out about it, or meetings to discuss '...what we want done, and how we should go about getting it done.'

I don’t agree with using up resources on sensationalistic and extremely rare occurrences, when they could be used more effectively to handle daily problems like crime, pollution, disabled access, etc... In other words, I would rather see the City of Crystal install cameras at major intersections to deter crime, than to install a giant grounding rod because someone walking through town was hit by lightning.

The meeting is a good idea - it allows those feeling outraged and powerless over this extremely emotional event to vent their frustrations, and feel as though they have ‘done’ something. But, before anyone decides to build a bridge, or fence, or tunnel, or run floodlights down the entire length of 81, please make sure the decision is based on reason and statistics, not emotions. Otherwise, we end up with a really expensive memorial that provides little value to the people who have to pay for it.


Respectfully,
Conrad...

Labels: americans, idiots, Open Letter, political

I've decided that the Republicrat system of government we currently have in place is not working, and have declared myself as the First King of the United States. My first acts as King are as follows:

-The Metric System. Right Fucking Now.
-Tom Green, Adam Sandler and Howard Stern are to be Stoned to Death for crimes against comedy.
-Bruce Springsteen can choose between Exile and being Stoned to Death. (Reason? 'The Rising' is an unforgivable cash-in on the 9-11 tragedy. Nice try, Jerk. Get the hell out of my country.)
-George Lucas is hereby ordered to retract the Star Wars episodes I, II, and III, and refund all the money. He is then given one year per episode to remake them, and if they suck as bad as his first attempts, he will be Stoned to Death for crimes against humanity. If there is any mention of 'midoclorians' he will be Burned at the Stake.
-No More Death Row. Instead of being sentenced to life in prison, guilty parties will be Burned to Death in the town square. This will be televised and free for public viewing (Rating PG-13)
-No More Traditional Prisons. Those who cannot abide by the laws set down by the King, (and the Former Government), will work on self-sufficient farms, providing services for the community; farming, cleaning, recycling, and maintenance of roadways and public areas.
-No more Traditional Courtrooms. Since you like your "reality TV" so much, all trials will be moved to live television, and the audience can vote for free via phone or internet. It is every person's moral obligation to vote on these issues. One vote per person. (For those of you who don't understand how this works, look up the word 'Democracy'.)
-All people will have a RFID/GPS chip attached to their brains, so the government can know where you are at all times. Cameras will be mounted at every corner and recorded. There is no longer an expectation of privacy in public areas.
-No person can own more than one billion dollars worth of assets, cash, stocks, etc. The very idea is ridiculous. Anything above and beyond this margin will go to a fund, managed by the King.
-The King will have a secret group of Smokin-Hot Female Ninja Assassins to make sure these laws are enforced.

Rule on,
-C

Labels: political

I love quizzes, but I HATE politics. So I was kind of 'middling' when I took the political placement test at okcupid.com (See the results below)

There are plenty of people whose lives are beyond their own control and who feel worthless, so they (over)compensate for their inferiority complex by running for office, where their they have some level of control or power over others. Those who don't have that kind of ambition simply put the bumper sticker on their SUV, vote every four years, bitch like mad when their rep is not in office, and laugh at the political jokes endorsed by their party, even if they don't understand them.

Hate me for this if you like, but I am more than happy to let those people run the country. I call them Republicrats, because they are all the same to me. At this point, I would probably be happier with a King and Queen, or better yet, a government run by a computer (Preferably running DOS 6.22) I would even take a shot at a year of Anarchy. Then the critical functions of the government would come to light...but I digress.

Here's how my political bent turned out. Be aware that the questions on the quiz were very poor (read: ambiguous) and that could have skewed my score substantially. Anyone know of an Accurate test for political placement?

You are a Social Moderate (56% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (30% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: Online Tests, political

[Editor's Log, Stardate March 2007 - The MOB Blogroll has been long pulled down from this site, but I haven't completely abandoned my left and right winged brethern. You can check on them here and see that Conrad Zero is still among them in spirit, if not political orientation.]

I have joined the M.O.B. The Minnesota Orginazition of Bloggers, that is. Last Friday, I met with several members of the M.O.B. who seem to be a group of highly intelligent, well-spoken individuals with an amazing tolerance for alcohol. Of course, this is just a front for their real purpose, as an elite recruitment team for the Illuminati. I have passed their drug test (I was drinking Newcastle Ale, check.) and their fitness test (I managed to walk to the restroom and back without falling over, check.) and the intelligence test (I told them I despise country music, gangsta rap and NASCAR, triple-check.) So now, I'm in.

I will keep you posted as I advance up the ranks in an attempt to discover the true identity of the Illuminati/Shadow-Government Leader.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the plethora of lovely blogs listed here, but I should warn you that some of them are run by Other People, and Other People may have Different Points Of View than your own, so click not, lest you are secure in your political, sexual, religious, and other viewpoints.


Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: A Day In The Life, Blogging, political

I'm not a smoker, but it is the right....(er, scratch that) ...it wasthe right of business owners to choose if they wanted to run a business that allowed smoking or not. And it was the right of patrons to decide whether to patronize those businesses or not. And it was the right of workers to decide whether to work there or not.

But not anymore.

Personally, I would rather be in a room full of people smoking, than people breathing flu germs into the air. So it is only the logical next step is to reduce our freedom even further by banning people who have a cold or flu from entering businesses. And if you are still too stupid to extend the chain of events, I'll do it for you: Next, people who are butt-ugly won't be allowed into bars because they make people sick to their stomach.

And so on.

My tax dollars did not go towards this ridiculous restriction of freedoms. There was always the freedom for businesses to proclaim themselves 'smoke-free', in the same way that businesses have the freedom to proclaim themselves 'television-free'. I would rather sit in a smoky bar with the air pollution than in a sports bar with audio and video pollution.

Smoke on,
-C

Labels: political, Ubersuck

Unhappy about the outcome of the US Presidental Election?

Do something about it!

Renounce your citizenship and move to another country! This article shows you your options. (No, I'm not happy about it either, but I'm not going to overdose on Prozac because one of the assholes running for president actually WON. At the very least, the rest of us remaining here won't have to hear you bitch anymore...)

Blog on,
-C

Labels: americans, political