I wasn’t there, but my family was well represented with my father and sister in Madison today as John Kerry was joined by Bruce Springsteen and 100,000 strong.
We are 5 days away and every vote counts. Pick up the phone, ask a friend to vote, it doesn’t matter for whom, but get folks to the polls. Here in Minnesota, same day voter registration is in effect, so get out the vote!
More photo’s & news from today’s event in Madison here.
The EFF brings you a a Public Service Announcement to Register to Vote.
With the election only 7 days away, your vote matters. Register online today.
Boing Boing is full of random goodness today.
First, BB has a link to Found Item Clothing, who has re-created the shirts from the movie Real Genius that Chris Knight (played by Val Kilmer wore).
Next, BB points out that William Gibson (of Neuromancer and other books’ fame) has started blogging again.
It looks like the current election cycle has gotten to him. Let me quote one of the jokes he has up on his site:
President Bush goes to an elementary school to talk about the war.
After his talk, he offers to answer questions. One little boy puts up his hand and the president asks him his name.
“I’m Billy, sir.”
“And what’s your question, Billy?”
“I have three questions, sir. Why did the US invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? And whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden?”
Just then the bell rings for recess. Bush announces that they’ll continue after recess.
When they return, Bush asks, “OK, where were we? Question time! Who has a question?”
Another little boy raises his hand. The president asks his name.
“I’m Steve, sir.”
“And what’s your question, Steve?”
“I have five questions, sir. Why did the US invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? Whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden? Why did the recess bell go off twenty minutes early? And what the heck happened to Billy?”
I saw on Daily Kos, a liberal weblog, this morning, that Clear Channel has put up 11 billboards across the Twin Cities saying “Don’t Vote“.
According to a Clear Channel spokesman, the billboards are a teaser ad for an ad campaign that will be unveiled on Oct. 11th. The billboards are in predominantly minority neighborhoods. Clear Channel claims that at first they said no to the campaign until they saw the whole thing, which will be in good taste.
No matter what the ad campaign, even if it’s for their radio stations (of which they have almost 50% market share here in the Twin Cities), this is in poor taste, even if it’s nothing to do with this years election.
At some point, I need to get my old blog imported here, so I can link back to the stories I did on why Clear Channel is evil, and why radio here in the Twin Cities sucks (Thanks Clear Channel and ABC Capital Cities Radio!).
And don’t forget, Clear Channel executives have a nice history of giving to the Republican party…
I heard on the way home last night on National Public Radio, that the 2nd Circuit Court has struck down key portions of Section 505 of the Patriot Act.
Specifically, Section 505 allows the Justice Department to send a NSL, National Security Letter, to businesses, demanding information related to terrorism, without a court order. U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marreo found this disturbing without judicial oversight. The Justice Department was required to submit a list of all businesses that they had done this to – and did, which was 5 pages long, with every line blacked out.
Judge Victor Marreo also struck down the portion that requires individuals and business not to disclose that the DOJ or FBI has requested the letter – so even if you receive one, you coudn’t tell a lawyer.
The challenge was brought by the ACLU, representing a “John Doe” ISP – who by law the ACLU can’t mention by name.
Check out Howard’s Stern website!
He’s a little pissed at the Bush Administration, and urging folks to register to vote. His entire front page is dedicated to his effort.
I listened to Howard when I lived in Philadelphia, and enjoyed his show (though he has so many commericals…), and listened off and on for the brief time he was on here in Minnesota.
What’s interesting to me, is that I would assume his listener base would tend to vote Republican. This isn’t new for him, the last 6 months to a year he has been railing against the administration, especially after the Clear Channel debacle around the FCC fines when Clear Channel dropped him on a handful of stations (he’s distributed by Clear Channel’s largest competitor, Infinity).
It will be intriguing to see what impact this may or may not have on the general election.
As some of my friends laugh at me for my, cough, somewhat, cough, liberal views, it’s good to see John Gilmore fight back and win a round.
As seen multiple times on Boing-Boing, John Gilmore’s personal fight against the government’s quest to require ID when flying and hide it in a secret law.
The 9th Court of Appeals has rejected (pdf link) the government’s motion to file a secret brief to keep a secret law a secret:
“In a one page order, the Court denied DOJ’s motion asking the Court’s permission to file their arguments in secret, allowing only the judges to read their full brief. A DOJ motion to suspend the briefing schedule was similarly denied.”
John Gilmore is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, “alt” newsgroups on Usenet, and the EFF with such luminaries as Mitch Kapor (creator of Lotus 1-2-3) and Steve Wozniak (creator of the Apple PC). Still active in technology advocacy, Mr. Gilmore speaks against copy protection, internet encryption, and drug policy reform.
I was the 1716th person to sign up for Save Betamax – National Call-In Day September 14.
If you haven’t heard, the new INDUCE Act will try to limit copyrights even more strictly than they already are.
After the recent verdict by the 9th Court of Appeals in the MGM vs. Grokster case, this law’s intent is specifically to limit the court’s rulings in these types of matters. Not only will it try to limit copyright, but technology as well.
It’s time to fight back. I’m calling Congress Tuesday. You should too.
If Bush were to camapaign against Jesus, what would his campaign look like?
