Slashdot Reports that there's a very bad DMCA-like Candian Copyright Act brewing. Michael Geist has 30 things that Canadian can do to stop it.

That put aside, I'd like to quote something that a U.S. Soldier who had been serving in Iraq told us about Saddam Hussein's support of terrorish activity, which has changed a mistaken perception of mine:

Me: Yes, but Bush claimed that he needed to attack Iraq because it supported terrorism, which wasn't really true. Iraq was not a threat to worldwide well-being. As opposed to say, Iran.

Soldier: Shlomi, actually that's not true... i'm not a huge fan of bush either, but i will say that i have personally been involved in well over 5 dozen raids that involved terrorist training camps in major iraqi cities.

Me: I see. I believe you.

Soldier: Shlomi, the thing about Iraq is this, it was being used as staging ground for Iran and Syria terrorist units, also... a special unit was trained here called the Al Kud, that was specifically trained to attack Israel.

Someone else: Yeah, but did those terrist camps exist *before* the invasion?

Soldier: Someone else, yes they did. Someone else, there are few if any terrorist camps in Iraq at this time. Most are trained outside of Iraq. In fact the majority (and i say 90%) of all terrorist activity here in Iraq is from outside nations, not local Iraqi nationals.

There's a new Israeli law proposal for a law that wants to prevent minors from accessing "questionable sites" on the Internet, and to require grown-ups to identify themselves using biometric identifaction to allow their unrestricted access to the Internet. This law faces objections from the Israeli Ministry of Treasury and the Israeli Ministry of Law, as well as the Israeli Internet Society. This law should better be stopped sooner than later. For more information consult:

1. Coverage in Whatsup
2. Coverage in Linmagazine.co.il
3. Coverage in Ynet
4. Coverage in Globes.co.il
5. Old Coverage in Linux-IL (in English) - pointing to an English coverage in YnetNews

Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote The Praise of Folly, where he gave the case for making foolishness (i.e decisions by intelligent people but very wrongheaded) an explanation for many problems. Today, I'll go a step further, and give "The Praise of Mysticism", where I claim that Mysticism - the irrational belief that mind-conjured realities can take the place of the common, absolute reality, and the ultimate cause of all evil - can often be used as the ultimate reason for many things.

People often look for natural motives: money, power, etc.. But in the case of evil people (including most politicians, most clergymen, many people in the media, etc.), there is another motive: mysticism or evil. They often do things because they are evil, not because they seek money or whatever. It may seem a bit presporous but carry on.

The Evil People

My mother once told me there are no evil people only evil actions. She couldn't have been more wrong. Hitler was obviously evil. So was Stalin, Mao and other people. The Nazis caused the death of over 20 million people in World-War-II. The Communists in the 20th century killed 100 million of their own people. Why would anyone kill so many people? It wasn't for survival - no. They were evil. Here's what the Neo-Tech orientation and definition has to say about it:

Slashdot reports on DMCA-like legal provisions brewing up in New Zealand. New Zealanders should notice and take the necessary steps to prevent it from entering the bylaws. Please help spread the word.

opendotdotdot reports based on this Lawrence Lessig's blog entry that there's a copyright term extension law looming in the United Kingdom. I suggest every Britishman to do his best following the advice in these links to stop this.

Slashdot reports on a new pro-DRM law that is about to be introduced in Australia. It should better be stopped. Please help spread the word, and if you're Australian please write to your representatives.

Carnal Reason reports in his blog that the Pakistani-Candian blogger Isaac Schrödinger faces a threat of being deported back to Pakistan. He is an ex-Muslim who voiced some anti-Islamic opinions, and there's a death penalty to blasphemers in Pakistan.

He now accepts donations to support his legal battle and can be further helped by linking to his blog entry and making him more well-known. Per Carnal Reason's request, I also include the links to the other blogs linking there:

• Adam’s Blog
• Captain’s Quarters
• Chicago Boyz
• Discarded Lies
• Free Constitution
• Gates of Vienna
• Gateway Pundit
• Gulf Coast Pundit
• The Jawa Report
• Jeremayakovka
• Memeorandum
• Old Controller
• Old War Dogs
• Power and Control
• Right Truth
• Wizbang

Well, I've been talking with a certain Canadian friend on the IRC. He said he's been pro-Israeli until the tension in the North started. After Lebanon was devastated he concluded that "Israel was bad" and that the Hizbullah were therefore noble freedom-fighters.

I realise it's human nature to assume that if someone is doing something bad, then the one who opposes him is noble. But reality is often more complicated than that. The purpose of this entry is not to protect Israel, but rather to bring some facts about Hizbullah that will prove they are anything but noble, and certainly not freedom fighters.

1. The Hizbullah operate out of civilian residences. Thus, they realise the Israeli retaliation will harm civilians. If they cared about the well-being of the Lebanese civilians, they would have isolated themselves from them as much as possible.
2. The Hizbullah started the war.
3. The Hizbullah shoot misslies at Haifa, and at other cities and towns well within the territorial Israel. Many of these missilies contain small metal balls that are meant to spread around and harm people.
4. They identify themselves as Muslims. Islam is a religion, and everything that is a religion or identifies itself as such is harmful and destructive.
5. The Hizbullah do not fight against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. If they are indeed freedom fighters, why aren't they doing exactly that?
6. The Hizbullah are controlled by Iran (which have been supporting a lot of terrorist activities against Israeli and Western targets), and are acting under the supervision of Syria (which has been hosting many terrorists).
7. The Hizbullah are one of the most popular charities in the Isalmic world. Many Muslims suffer from hunger, mal-nutrition or sub-standard conditions, and yet the Hizbullah still receives a lot of donations.
8. The Hizbullah kidnapped several Israeli soldiers. They did not let the Red Cross visit them, the whereabouts of some of them are unknown, and three of them were returned dead..

I'll let you draw your own conclusions. For more insights about the Hizbullah and similar issues consult my story "The Enemy and How I Helped to Fight it".

It's always the easiest thing to blame's one problems on someone else. Politicians and other people are notorious for repeatedly doing that. And as usual, Israelis tend to blame "the Arabs" for the problems that they encounter today. But is it true?

This entry is going to be very flamebait, but I have to say it. I admit that I also said to myself "Damn, Stupid Hizbullah" when the situation in Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel started, but as any good Neo-Tech person, I quickly returned to my sense, and started looking at my own backyard.

So here are the points to consider:

1. Nasarallah and friends are Doing What they're doing because they are Evil. The source of Evil is generally referred to as "Mysticism" in Neo-Tech literature. A Mystic has a shrinking self-esteem and keeps wanting to hurt others to temporarily relieve his self-esteem. See the Neo-Tech orientation for more details.

   A benevolent person generally does what he does in order to increase his or her healthy self-esteem. This self-esteem can be cognitively manifested in "fame", "money", "love", "getting work done", "peer repute" etc. All of these are generally positive values, that help a person later on in life, and just makes him feel good about himself, others and the worlds.

   Nasarallah and friends (but also many known and unknown Israelis) are causing more harm, because they need to reach new "heights" of negative achievements. The Neo-Tech link explains it better, but this was an executive summary. Just take it for granted.

   Evil does exist, and evil people too, as any person who has rudimentaly studied 20th century history knows. Evil people are capable of doing anything as bad as any evil that Tolkien could come with. However, as opposed to the formidable and often awe-inspiring Tolkienian evil, real-world evil people are generally dishounorable, lack most self-control, blame other people's for their problems, are incompetent, and generally invoke a lot of disgust.

   Note: a benevolent person can become a mystic and a mystic, given enough time and determination can return to be a good, non-harmful person.

2. The Israeli-Arab Conflict will not be Resolved Until Israel stops having Constitutional Racism - Israel has discrimination against non-Jews directly in its constitution. From uneven immigration and citizenship laws, to lack of civil marriages, divorces and adoptions, to uneven investment between Arabic and Jewish settlements. While this does not justify irrational hatred from the Arabs, it certainly is a very good cause for it. And it is very bad.

   Despite popular belief, a private person is allowed to be racist or even (peacefully) discriminatory. This is because discrimination does not involve force, threat of force, or fraud, which are the only unethical actions. However, a government being a public monopoly must not be discriminatory to groups according to some of their properties.

   We can often hear people saying that if Israel did not have consitutional racism, it would not remain a Jewish state for much longer, or that the Palestinians will take over. This is wrong. There are already a lot of Jews in Israel, and they aren't going to magically disappear. Furthermore, I'd rather have a liberal, free-as-in-freedom, prosperous country than a discriminatory Jewish country. Moreover, if anyone causes any trouble (whether Jewish or non-Jewish) he can be exiled or otherwise ostracised.

   Finally, in Israel today there are many immigrants who are neither Jewish nor Arabs: Romanian, Philippinos, Chinese, Thais. They are hard working and passionate. Surely most of them have a precedence for getting a citizenship over the random trouble-causing Arab nationalist.

   Israeli does not belong to the Jews. No country can prevent a lawful person from immigrating to it, living there and working there. Otherwise it's exercising force in trying to get the person to leave. It's high time Israel officially becomes the Land of the Israeli and Israeli-wannabes (which it is in practice) instead of "the Land of the Jews".

This is the ultimate cause of most of the troubles Israel been having, and a lot of the criticism applied to it from the outside. I don't expect anti-Israeli terror activities to immediately stop after such a reform will be made, but after it, there won't be any real-life basis for feelings of hatred towards Israelis, and thus they won't survive for long.

For more information refer to my "A Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict", as well as my story "The Enemy and How I Helped to Fight it". The latter was written with a lot of inspiration from the situation at the Israeli-Lebanese border (back in 1996), but has a universal message, and it is very possible many Israelis who read it will feel uncomfortable about the ideas behind it. (I've started heavily revamping it recently, but am still in the process, and don't have something final).

If you're reading it and is a Lebanese, be aware that my advice about not blaming other people for your own problems applies to you too. The best way to prevent the continuation of the fighting is to give an ultimatum to any Hizbullah activist you know to either leave it or otherwise be outcasted by you an other. Something like "Either you leave this wretched organisation or don't talk to me again." If the Hizbullah people will lose all their friends this way, they'll quickly stop this insanity.

Like I said, I know this post was flamebait, but I had to say it because I'm tired of people or countries blaming other entities for their own problems. Feel free to reply to this post, but please be civil, and avoid Logical Fallacies.

Cheers!