Expressive Opposition

The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Social Disobedience

Perhaps the Matthew Koso story has already begun integration into American culture, even if in a minor way. When an adult male impregnates an early pubescent teen girl, it may be said, “He pulled a Matt Koso.” The Encyclopedia Wikipedia has an entry for “Matthew Koso.” The blogosphere is alive with Matthew Koso; his story is even being used in reference to discussions on poverty and class. Mainstream media has given Matt, his wife Crystal, and their baby brief celebratory status. Matthew and his family have a very powerful enemy in State Attorney General Jon Bruning who has made it his personal cause to fry Matthew.

Remember, Blogs merely copy the news, reporters get the news, and the angry_squirrel has personally interviewed two individuals who went to school with and know Matthew Koso.

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It is now estimated that the Sony DRM rootkit virus has infected over 500,000 networks. Among the music CD’s that are spreading the virus is Neil Diamond’s latest release. So artists like Neil Diamond need to stop and think for a moment, “What will my loyal fans think when they play my music on their computer and suddenly they have a serious problem?” No matter who the artist is, I would consider holding them responsible along with Sony BMG. Artist, agent, over paid staff alike, someone should be thinking about the implications of screwing with the fans this way.

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Officials are looking into how two convicted murderers escaped from the maximum-security portion of the Iowa State Penitentiary. They scaled the limestone walls of the old State Pen in Fort Madison. The now 34-year-old Martin Shane Moon was convicted in Osceola Iowa for shooting his roommate Kevin Dickson back in 2000. And Robert Joseph Legendre, 27, was convicted for kidnapping and murder in the state of Nevada. He was a transfer prisoner.

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Warm hearts and the Christmas… (strike that) Holiday spirits are high from Liberal Massachusetts all the way to the United Nations this year. Internationalists abound are eager to make working Americans finance low cost and free laptop computers for poor children worldwide. Nicholas Negroponte, the founding chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab cooked up the idea, with a dash of kind regard and the American taxpayer’s wallet. Kofi Annan sees U.S. dollar signs and is eager to support the program. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney recently proposed spending $54 million to buy one of the laptops for every student in middle school and high school in his state so the laptops are for a domestic as well as a massive International social program.

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Wearing an all cotton sweater today, I suddenly realize I might be offending a minority. It didn’t occur to me until I read an article where a Song About Picking Cotton was Pulled From a School Concert because it brings “back the memories of how African-Americans picked cotton, and it wasn’t a good memory. It was disrespectful to African-Americans.” Now I am very concerned that things I do on a daily basis, like wearing an all cotton shirt, or whatever else, might be offensive to a minority. Insensitive people like me need to purchase the volumes of documented items and activities that offended minorities as to avoid such political incorrectness. Maybe there is a market for political correctness consulting.

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Lynnette (or Lynette, or Lisa Lynnette) Clark, pregnant with her 15-year-old newlywed husband’s baby, finds herself locked up in jail being charged with child molestation. Although Georgia Law gives an exemption to age requirements for marriage when the female applicant is pregnant, this marriage will be nullified. Currently, the facts are very fuzzy since the mainstream media can’t even determine the woman’s actual name, let alone accurately provide details on the situation. This story is reminiscent of what might be called “Bizzaro Matthew Koso“.

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Police State conditions continue to grow here in the United States with the latest, the FCC mandates all broadband and Internet phone providers to create backdoors for the government to listen in on private user networks. VoIP companies have 18 months to put these backdoors in place for local police and federal agents to use.

Again, the DOJ is behind the kind of government tyranny leading us firmly into a future police state. Teamed up with the FCC, DEA and FBI, an act went into law called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).

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Never mind a war going badly, violent crime, and the nation’s drug problems, President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales want to focus on teens downloading tunes for free. After all, no greater threat faces our nation than these young music and video pirates! I mean, shouldn’t a warez kiddie do hard time so we can give hard criminals earlier parole? A number of changes and provisions proposed by Gonzales have met with warm approval from Sony and the MPAA, while alarming fair use advocates and private citizens. UPDATE: On a related issue, top Bush administration official tells Sony they went too far with their DRM rootkit, Sony puts temporary suspension on production.

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Sony’s heavy-handed DRM (Digital Rights Management) is an infringement on Consumer Rights. Playing a Sony BMG music CD on your computer, Mac or PC, can make you a Sony hater too! Several groups in several places are now suing Sony over their DRM rootkit. New viruses in the wild are using the Sony DRM rootkit and as a result, at least one anti-virus software company has released a tool for exposing the rootkit. Macintosh users are not immune to the Sony DRM rootkit issue. Sony has really crossed the line by screwing up people’s computers. Perhaps it is time for a massive, united consumer boycott of all Sony products.

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Former Apple employee and faithful music buying blogger wrote today about DRM on his site, “Writers Block Live.” His decision reflects the actions of a growing number of consumers. It is apparent that the tighter the industry’s grip, the more consumers slip though their fingers. I am talking about consumers that have been purchasing legal music for many years. Many may recalled that time when his or her downloaded mp3 collection overtook the legally acquired music. When superimposed over the industry’s greed, they will be proportional. The compromise (for the industry) is to accept the reasonably small portion of pirates and take care the mainstream, legal consumers. Take care of the fans, and you take care of the artists. Stunts like the Sony rootkit and busting 14-year-old P2P file swappers gives the industry a black eye and drives further pirating now not of need, but of idealism. When evil is legal, no one want to obey the law.