News Lately Seems Incredibly Relevant

Let's check a quick list of news items that are definitely a step above the usual drivel that the news media likes to affix itself to:

• Olympics
• Iran Vs. The World
• China Vs. Freedom
• Canada Vs. China
• RIAA Vs. Freedom

To make it short because that is a large list for one post, I'll try to exercise extreme brevity.

Olympics - Eternally the measure of human physical ability combined with the most cutting edge technology. Why do you think developed countries take home the most gold? Anyone who wants to get a quick assessment of the true world structure should watch the winners and the trends in the Olympics. What's sad is that American Idol gets better ratings than the Olympics.

Iran Vs. The World - Of course any time an insane ruler backed by an insane religious figure-head get the idea that they want to test the resolve of the World, we should all get worried. Nuclear power or not, Iran is a threat to everyone in one way or another. We need to give them non-negotiable rules for behavior and follow through with strict punishment when they try to push the line. Such is the only way to deal with animals, juvenile delinquents and lunatics.

China Vs. Freedom - They like to control their people in many ways, and one very important keystone to that control is censorship. China knows that the free-flow of information on the internet is the greatest threat to their communist dictatorship.

Canada Vs. China - I love it. A Canadian company is developing a little app that will allow anyone in an information controlled state (specifically China) to bypass the government firewall anonymously. I'll have to test it out myself. Hey, you never know...

RIAA Vs. Freedom - Now the RIAA is saying that copying the music off the CD that you bought for either backup or media-shifting purposes is NOT fair use. Media shifting meaning taking the music from the CD and converting it for use on another device such as an iPod or computer. If this idea gets any traction, I might start to get mad at all the people that still buy music. If you are willing to give up your rights that much you need to get your head examined. RIAA definitely needs their collective brain-cell examined because even an amoeba knows that you can only leech so much from your host before you kill it.