Psyberspace

Clarity, dedication, inspiration from RMS, as usual. His concern about language is often criticised by even those who support him, but I think he is right. “Piracy” for example is a propaganda word and we should never use it apart from its legal definition – raiding ships at sea, a serious crime.

In “Can You Trust Your Computer?” he tackles the propaganda use of the word “trusted” and distinguishes it from “treacherous”. It is a notion which we need to take on board. “We” of course are not “them” i.e. they who rule. They cant trust our computers, it is an issue that defines which side you are on. I hope this article becomes a classic and that people will adopt his usage.

Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call “trusted computing,” large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you. Proprietary programs have included malicious features before, but this plan would make it universal.

Nice Bogg Interesting author: alex wright : projects
Thanks Josh.

Doonesbury Town Hall and Web Presence- Daily Dose

BarlowFriendz 8.8: Pox Americana

NYT

The speed of the antiwar mobilization has struck some longtime college presidents. “Students are engaging very, very quickly with Iraq,” said Nancy Dye, the president of Oberlin College. “This morning I was struck by a very large sign on top of an academic building, saying, `Say No to War in Iraq.’ A new student organization has gotten itself together, and I don’t even know if they have a name yet. There wasn’t anything like this during the first gulf war, when I was president at Vassar.”

Guardian

I hope we see some serious opposition there – strikes – demonstrations.

Here it is with links to radio shows from the past. I am downloading them now. Real audio + Total Record. Will be interesting to see how useful this stuff is. A sort of Starhawk?

Scoop Images: Un-American Graffiti

It is a nasty observation, but not un American. There must be plenty of Americans who oppose the imperialist expansion, who see it akin to german expansion last century. What is American? We could say jazz and Elvis and pop-corn, and the world does somehow value the exported American culture. The image clarifies exactly which bit of the USA we are against. Important to be against the Empire not America as such.

U.S. Has a Plan to Occupy Iraq, Officials Report

Today marked the first time the administration has discussed what could be a lengthy occupation by coalition forces, led by the United States.

Officials say they want to avoid the chaos and in-fighting that have plagued Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taliban

Bush’s real goal in Iraq

This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the “American imperialists” that our enemies always claimed we were.

There is plenty of opposition to this war, but not all that much which reveals the imperialist motivation. The official line, the safety of the world, if true, might be a good reason for the war but it is not what it is about, the world will be safer without an American empire. The real task IS to make the world safe and opposing the US empire is part of that. To oppose it will have a price, it will not be an easy battle. It is a war that requires the unity, organisation and courage of the forces opposed to it.

All of these posts about the EMPIRE are related to the psychological explorations on my website that the empire is also at work exploiting the psyche. Psyche herself has been captured and occupied. To speak of opposing the US as an imperialist force has been psychologically damned, it no longer sounds a sane thing to say.