Episode 04

LOST IN LYRICS

Online music fraud 'gang' arrested

Metropolitan Police and the FBI have announced today the arrest of 10 members of what are being called an online music fraud "gang" accused of downloading their own uploaded music thousands of times using stolen credit cards to reap royalty payments.


WHERE’S MY JET-PACK? Technological Revolution

How tweet it is for Uganda's gorillas
Sep 30, 2009 04:30 AM

Lurking deep in the mist-glazed forests of East Africa, Uganda's mountain gorillas are preparing to "tweet" for their survival.

With the launch on Saturday of the "Friend a Gorilla" campaign, humans will soon be able to follow the everyday drama of one of the few remaining 720 mountain gorillas online, far from the red ants, mud and tropical rain of their habitats.

* So, if you're worried about the mountain gorillas you can follow them on twitter.
* In related tech news:

40 percent of Twitter messages 'pointless babble': study
Mon Aug 17, 2:33 PM

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Forty percent of the messages on Twitter are "pointless babble" along the lines of "I am eating a sandwich now," according to a study conducted by a US market research firm.

* I've never been a fan of twitter, I don't really get it, no one needs to be in touch that much
* This youtube vid by Lisa Nova, called "twitter whore" satirises this social phenomenum pretty well:



I'm not the only one conerned with twitter:

* According to an article in Wired Magazine, the US military is as well

* The article: Spy Fears: Twitter Terrorists, Cell Phone Jihadists

* describes how miniature messaging software could be used as an effective tool for coordinating militant attacks


IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME

US funding of Afghanastan's mujahideen during the Soviet invasion in 1979 helped create al Qaida.

* Mujahideen, is the plural form of the word Mujahid (translated literally means "struggler") is a person who is fighting for freedom. The word is from the same Arabic word jihad ("struggle").

* These guys were significantly financed and armed (and allegedly trained) by the CIA during the Carter and Reagan administrations
* As well as by The governments of Saudi Arabia, the China, Pakistan Iran and several Western European countries including the UK.
* The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the inter-agent used in the majority of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance.
* Under Reagan, U.S. support for the mujahideen evolved into an official U.S. foreign policy, known as the Reagan Doctrine, which included U.S. support for anti-Soviet resistance movements in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua

In a the oddly named article:
The United States did not “create” Osama bin Laden
01 May 2009

States:

"The United States supported the Afghans fighting for their country’s freedom in the 1980s — as did other countries — but the United States did not support the other Muslims who came to fight in Afghanistan for broader goals"

The website goes on to claim:

"The United States wanted to be able to deny that the CIA was funding the Afghan war, so its support was funneled through Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI). ISI in turn made the decisions about which Afghan factions to arm and train, tending to favor the most Islamist and pro-Pakistan. The Afghan Arabs generally fought alongside those factions, which is how the charge arose that they were creatures of the CIA."

So there you go: you try to stop the spread of god-hating communists and you end up helping god-fearing extremists.

Is there anything the State Department can learn from this? Well, stop spending tax payers money on guns and stay out of other countries affairs...

We'll no doubt find out about the next batch of people who want to destroy the West about thirty years from the invasion of Iraq

Something to look forward to...


ONION RADIO NEWS


BECOME THE MEDIA: Indy-Media Watch

The Independent Media Center is a global network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It originated during the anti-WTO protests in 1999 and remains closely associated with the global justice movement, which criticizes neo-liberalism, and its associated institutions. Indymedia uses an open publishing and democratic media process that allows anybody to contribute.

According to its homepage:

"Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth."Indymedia was founded as an alternative to government and mainstream media, and seeks to facilitate people being able to publish their media as directly as possible.

The first Indymedia project was started in late November 1999 to report on protests against the WTO meeting that took place in Seattle, Washington, and to act as an alternative media source.

After Seattle the idea and network spread rapidly. By 2002, there were 89 Indymedia websites covering 31 countries (plus Palestinian Authority), growing to over 150 by January 2006.
Indymedia websites publish in a number of languages, including English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, French, Russian, Arabic and Hebrew.

* One problem with this type of open media is that, since anyone can publish with little to no editorial process, unsubstantiated allegations and conspiracy theories are often published as fact, along with inaccurate articles and content that can offend
* Mind you there are many examples of this happening in the main stream media
* Indymedia traditionally adopts a position hostile to the interests of capital and thus can be obviously bias,
* You could say however that this is the purpose of the media.
* In terms of bias, you know when you go to the "indymedia" website that they will be supporting thier own agenda, as you do when go to the foxnews website
* Although Indymedia has global aspirations, the vast majority of IMCs are in North America, Latin America and Europe.
* The Middle East is also an area of considerable interest to Indymedia, there are only three IMCs in the region

Indy-media has been subject of controversy over the years, notably:

* In May 2003, Google temporarily stopped including some IMCs in Google News searches after receiving numerous complaints about newswire stories that referred to the Israeli military (IDF) as "Zionazi forces" or to Israelis as "Zionazis"
* Google News described the term "Zionazi" as a "degrading, hateful slur" and refused to index the Bay Area IMC where the comments had appeared; SF Bay Area Indymedia agreed that it "could be considered hate speech".
* IMCs were still included in normal Google web searches. As of October 2004, IMC articles were restored to Google News searches

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Media_Center

I visited IMC Ottawa, and was pretty disappointed with the quality and content of the journalism:

* I read the first dozen stories or so, the most recent from June this yeat
* There was not a single article
* It seemed like a message board for uni students protests like:

Solidarity Rally for Indigenous in Peru

SHUT DOWN CANSEC 2009!
*There was one article that looked interesting:
*PUBLIC SPACE IS UNDER ATTACK IN OTTAWA

Why are we paying to keep panhandlers in jail cells? Why have street artists, novelty vendors, and buskers vanished from city streets? Why are we allowing business in this city to use the police department as their PRIVATE security on PUBLIC streets?

It’s time to take back OUR STREETS!

Join the Ottawa Panhandlers’ Union on Friday, May 1st as we kick off our Black Ribbon campaign to reclaim public space for ALL of us, not just the ones wearing suits and ties.

4pm
Friday, May 1st
Human Rights Monument (Elgin and Lisgar)

For more information, please contact the Ottawa Panhandlers’ Union at 613-748-0460

* Really! The Ottawa Panhandlers' Union
* My first question is why are there so many beggars on the streets
* we are not in the US, this is the capital of Utopian Socialism, and there's people living on the streets
* What's that about? And then they have their own union?
* I don't get it!
* Anyway...

I had a look around at other Indy-media sites and found that Seattle had a pretty vibrant scene and the ones in Europe where well used

Toronto didn't have an Indy-media site and most of the links to the other Canadian sites were broken. However, Quebec and the Maritimes had more doing on than the nations capital.


NEWS FROM NOWHERE

Ottawa:

Counselling for teens who planted explosive device near school
THE OTTAWA CITIZENOCTOBER 1, 2009

OTTAWA — Two teens involved in making a homemade explosive device and leaving it on the grounds of A. Lorne Cassidy Elementary School in Stittsville last week have been identified by police and will receive counselling, police say.

Ontario:

Ont. church covered in ketchup and mustard during bizarre break-and-enter incident

OAKVILLE, Ont. - A bizarre break-and-enter incident that saw condiments spread over the pews and pulpit of an Oakville, Ont., church has caused some $10,000 worth of damage.

Canada:
Stephen Harper Sings Beatles Song At "Rich Gala"
10/05/09 12:59pm
by Kate Harper

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper showed up during cellist Yo-Yo Ma's performance at... an arts gala this weekend.

Here's Harper singing at the gala


World:

Miss Singapore World resigns after lingerie fraud
Wed Sep 30, 12:46 pm ET

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Beauty queen Miss Singapore World has given up her crown after it emerged that she had stolen credit cards to go on a shopping spree for lingerie. Ris Low had come under public pressure to be stripped of her 2009 title, after local media reported she stole seven credit cards last year while working at a medical clinic, buying goods worth about S$8,000 ($5,662) including gold anklets and phones.


AMERICA ON LSD

US woman fried, ate pet goldfish amid dispute with her ex over jewelry, police say
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP)

PASADENA, Texas — Authorities say a Houston-area woman who was angry with her former common-law husband fried their pet goldfish and ate some of them.


THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Last week were were looking at Transgenderism

Might be appropriate to look at another shade of the sexual rainbow:

Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with the other gender

Nearly every human society throughout history has distinguished between male and female gender by the style, color, or type of clothing they wear and has had a set of norms, views, guidelines, or even laws defining what type of clothing is appropriate for each gender.

Cross-dressing is a behavior which runs significantly counter to those norms and therefore can be seen as a type of transgender behavior, which we talked about last week.

It does not, however, necessarily indicate transgender identity; a person who cross-dresses does not always identify as having a gender different from that assigned at birth.

Some people automatically connect cross-dressing behavior to transgender identity or sexual, fetishist, and homosexual behavior, but the term cross-dressing itself does not imply any motives.

However, referring to a person as a cross-dresser suggests that their cross-dressing behavior is habitual and may be taken to mean that the person identifies as transgendered. The term cross-dresser should therefore be used with care to avoid causing misunderstanding or offense.

Therefore, we are looking specifically at:

Transvestic fetishism, which refers specifically to cross-dressing; sexual arousal in response to individual garments is fetishism.

Transvestic fetishism can occur with or without gender dysphoria (transgenderism);

Most men who have TF do not have a problem with their assigned sex.

Some male transvestic fetishists collect women's clothing, e.g. nightgowns, babydolls, slips, and other types of nightwear, lingerie, stockings and pantyhose, items of a distinct feminine look and feel. They may dress in these feminine garments and take photographs of themselves while living out their secret fantasies.

According to the American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, this fetishism has been described only in men and, more specifically, only in men sexually attracted to women.

Married transvestic fetishists will experience considerable anxiety and guilt if their spouse objects to their behaviour.

If you do have such a fetish, you should bring your wife in on it - she might be into too
Shouldn't be ashamed - acording to Craig's List Ottawa, it pretty common in the NCR

Famous cross dressers include:
J. Edgar Hoover
Joan of Arch
and this famous comedian:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-dressing