There are many voices coming out against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Internet Protocol Act. SOPA and PIPA, despite being different bills, are in fact the same problem merely viewed from different angles. They both restrict internet freedom and neither is better than the other.

Under SOPA, youtube could be shut down just for a person uploading themselves singing to a song if the song is playing in the background. That could be considered copyright infringement. Tumblr? Post something that someone complains about being copyrighted, it’s down. This is not like the previous laws, wherein a copyrighted media/link/picture/etc would be blacked out or removed due to a copyright violation. If one ever searches for something on youtube, chances are you have come across a video that was removed for copyright violation. Now imagine youtube itself shut down over one of those.

PIPA would institute Domain Name System blocking. Under this system, if you type in the name of an offending website, your search engine would be unable to locate it. It would appear as though the site did not exist. The cataclysmic potential of this cannot be understated. This technology would break the functionality of DNS itself. By the nature of Uniform resource locator (URL) design, all DNS hosted on servers should be identical. With this implemented, US servers would have records different from their counterparts in other countries, thereby making URLs less universal and forcing drastic changes on the internet infrastructure.

There are many resources detailing why SOPA/PIPA are terrible ideas. Today, do your part and please help voice your opposition. Write a letter, phone your congressman, put up a facebook alert, but do something so Washington and the various backers of SOPA/PIPA such as the US Chamber of Commerce take notice.

Thank you. Good Night and Good Luck.

Welcome. Today is the first of a new feature on leapblog. Reviews of music, films, series, video games and more.

Today’s review item is the anime series “Shin Mazinger Shogeki! Z Hen.” Which translates to “True Mazinger Impact! Z Chapter”, in the original japanese. It’s a remake of the legendary anime series “Mazinger Z” from Go Nagai from the 1970s. The story is once again of Kabuto Koji using his grandfather’s super robot, Mazinger Z, to fight the evil Doctor Hell. All the old characters show up again with more current animation styles. And there are many references and in jokes to Go Nagai’s other works.

For example, Viscount Pygman the african shaman, who has not been seen since the 1970s due to an offensive character design. His form was originally a pygmy shaman on the body of a large tribal warrior carrying a spear and shield. This time around, he has the appearance of another Go Nagai character, Jim Mazinger, himself a parody of Mazinger Z.

He’s not the only one to show up from other places, and this technique of taking references and characters from an artist and writer’s collected works is a trademark of the director, Yasuhiro Imagawa, who also directed Giant Robo and G Gundam. Shin Mazinger Z is a homage to the collected works of Go Nagai. The animation is crisp, well shaded, and conspicuously lacking in CGI for the most part. Occasionally you get something like a special attack or the background of Doctor Hell’s lair that’s CGI. But the action and every single character is hand drawn in Go Nagai’s signature style.

Even without knowing anything about this series, if you enjoy seeing giant robots fight and pilots yell out their attacks, this is your series. It’s everything good about the old series, without the filler garbage, or stupid plots. It looks like a general retelling of the old Mazinger Z with a different backstory and a few new characters. And then the plot gets twisted a few times. The backstory actually has a purpose besides setting the stage, and it’s a large part of the overarching plot. The twists are numerous and well integrated. The rashomon effect is in full force at times, and discovering the true nature of events in the backstory becomes increasingly important. What happened to Kenzo Kabuto? Why did Juuzo Kabuto build Mazinger Z? What is Bardos Island and the legends of the Mycenae? And, what is Photon Power? All of these questions will be answered throughout the series in interesting and surprising ways.

Unfortunately, Shin Mazinger Z is not out in this country officially. So the only options are importing a disk, buying it on ebay or at specialty stores, or searching out fan subtitled versions on the internet. In defense of importing or otherwise buying japanese disks, studios in Japan have added English subtitles to most of the DVDs. It’s 26 episodes, and each episode is between 22-25 minutes long, counting opening and ending themes in most episodes.

Thank you. Good Night and Good Luck.

The ongoing protests on Wall Street have drawn national attention, both for the fact that they are ongoing and possibly growing, and for the police response. Between pepper spraying by Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, the orange netting corrals, the officer photographed with his neck on a protestor’s neck, and the blatant snubbing by the mainstream media, it’s surprising that they are still there.

And yet, the protestors remain, and organized labor unions are now starting to take notice and offering to march in solidarity. Thus far the New York transit workers union and Air Line Pilots association have chosen to march in the streets. Today, protestors marched on NYPD headquarters in outrage at their treatment at the hands of officers. It’s very sad that I had to find out about this by browsing the web and not through newspapers or TV news. In fact, aside from the inimitable Keith Olbermann on Current TV, not a single news program has given them any kind of positive coverage.

Fox of course, is demonizing the protestors, even going so far as to argue that the young women who were pepper-sprayed in the face are overreacting, while mentioning that they have never been pepper-sprayed in the same breath. The refrain is near constant: “The protests are meaningless and without a clear message.” The message is only unclear because Fox and various other groups are the targets named by the protestors. They are out on the streets, through the wind, rain, police brutality and scourging, because they don’t know what else to do.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has applauded them, saying it is focusing a much-needed spotlight on Wall Street and their actions over the past few years. We had one of the worst economic crises in the history of this country, and 3 years later, not one of the culprits has been punished. The major banking institutions, the companies trading in derivatives, the energy and food futures speculation that is helping to drive up prices, none of them have been called to account for their actions. The banks even had the gall to institute fees on debit cards in response to the Dodd-Frank bill (which was a response to the economic crisis) and the durbin amendment therein, which capped fees the banks could levy on merchants. Bank of America is leading the charge with $5 debit use fees. Well Fargo is charging $3, and other banks are within the same range. The Dodd-Frank bill was of course, vigorously opposed by the banking industry and various pundits and politicians on the right, claiming it would unfairly restrict banks and impinge on their ability to make a profit.

And the media wonders why there are protests. The question is not why are they protesting. It’s why isn’t the rest of the country joining in? For that matter, why is this protest being ignored? Why are Jon Stewart of the Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report giving better information and coverage than MSNBC or CNN? I’d love to quote Bill O’Reilly and say “You can’t explain that!”, but that would be Fox News’s line, not mine. The protestors marched on the Brooklyn bridge today, only to be corralled by the NYPD, put under arrest and on police buses, and treated like cattle.

The protest may be leaderless, lacking in direction and needing clear goals. But at least they’re out there trying to make a difference. And given the list of demands that was shown on Reddit.com and other locations, it may be coalescing into something more defined. If anyone reading this is in New York City, and you can spare the time, go out and protest. There’s something rotten on Wall Street, and it’s time the rest of the country started noticing. Wall Street may be only part of the problem, but the money for the GOP/Tea Party machine came from their rich friends, and where better to combat it, than on Wall Street, the beating heart of the conservative movement. The right created an astro turf movement with the Tea Party, the left has just begun to awaken. It’s fifteen days into the protests, and it’s still going strong.

Occupy Wall Street. You have my support. Thank you for reading.

Good Night, and Good Luck.

The news media in general tends to be rather gutless. It would be all too easy to blast them for not reporting on the Iraq war, or various other issues. But the recent attempt to paint the democrats as being culpable for the debt ceiling crisis is nothing short of ludicrous. Whatever their faults, the current atmosphere of fear and tension is due to John Boehner, Eric Cantor and the rest of the GOP/Tea Party leadership.

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It’s a new day on the internet and for everyone using bandwith.  Onlive CEO Steve Perlman has just announced that Reardan Co. (Onlive’s parent corp) has found a way to break Shannon’s law. By redesigning the way they transmit from the ground up, they have radios working at ten times the limit of what Shannon theorized.

For those not versed in the jargon; Shannon’s law refers to the Shannon-Hartley theorem (named for Claude Shannon and Ralph Hartley, prominent american mathematicians known for pioneering information theory) which states there is an upper limit to what one can transmit before the information before you start losing it. This law was considered unbreakable until now. Reardan has found a way to break Shannon’s law that is completely revolutionary. They now have Radios working at ten times, they’re confident they can get to one hundred times, and a thousand is theoretically possible. There may not even be an upper limit at all. It even works up to 30 miles away with no interference. And that limit has only been established so far because of the time involved of driving to each radio station.

This is not only the death knell for dead zones, it’s the end of latency itself. NO MORE LAG. Lag as a concept could be permanently reduced to a shadow of it’s former power. The exact science is abit out of my league to explain, but Reardan has a reputation for coming up with amazing ideas that seem to work. This is a fantastic development I will be watching with great interest.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/29/onlive-ceo-reveals-entirely-new-approach-to-wireless-credits/

This link goes directly to Engadget’s article, and the video which is set to the point where Mr. Perlman starts talking about their new concept and takes Q&A after.

It would be all too easy to dismiss the republican party this coming election. With the likes of Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and others gunning for the nomination of Republican Presidential Candidate, one could hardly be blamed for laughing off their chances.

But, unfortunately, there is a solid candidate in the background. Though John Huntmans jr., the president’s former ambassador to China has slim to no chance of winning the primary given the Tea Party ascendence, he nonetheless remains the most dangerous opponent for Obama and the democrats. Unlike most of the candidates, he can actually hold a nuanced and reasonable debate. Moreover, he’s a social moderate and a true fiscal conservative. This places Obama in the awkward position of having to fight someone reasonably similar to him. Huntsman not only supports civil unions, he’s also willing to actually talk about the budget. Unfortunately, he’s a traditional republican when it comes to taxes. IE; they are not necessary.

Again, it’s hard to say whether he can pass the tea party gauntlet, but if he does, Obama could lose. Despite having Bin Laden’s head on a platter. It’s no secret that Obama has been a disappointment to the left, nor is it that the Tea Party will be out in force if the GOP sends one of their own. It would have been better for him to focus on his base, rather than trying to be a centrist.

However, the mood of the public is difficult at best to ascertain at times, and Obama at least has been trying to be a centrist. He could campaign that he has indeed tried to be a centrist and a consensus builder, and that his opposition has not even tried to negotiate. It’s a question of guts and how badly he wants to hurt them. He may even ignore this avenue in the view of taking the moral high ground. The democrats have the arguementative firepower to win, they just need the backbone.

Ultimately, it’s going to be open speculation until February next year. So for now, we sit back, laugh, and enjoy the GOP civil war. Obama can beat even John Huntsman potentially at the moment, but none can say what the country will look like in 8 months or so. The public is notoriously fickle. After all, they elected Bush twice.

Good Night, and Good Luck.

After the latest harbinger of doom from the CBO regarding the future monetary outlook, I took a moment to consider possible solutions.  We have a terrible cost to revenue ratio. We’re spending too much for our inadequate revenue streams to keep up with.

One of our biggest areas of spending is the defense industry. Unfortunately, this also accounts for alot of jobs and US tax dollars. Clearly the military budget is bloated, but we can’t remove it without providing a suitable industry to replace it. And then it hit me.  There is something we can replace it with that would not only produce a revenue stream, it would provide a vital service and fix a glaring deficit in our ability to compete globally. And even better, it could be done by the government or under their supervision and not by a private corporation.

The Works Progress Administration was based on the idea that by improving and repairing infrastructure, the country as a whole would benefit and people could get back to work while doing something necessary. A modern version has vast potential to improve the economy. Though the political will is lacking, the spirit of progressiveism remains. Given the proper framing and some use of the bully pulpit, it could make its case. For it also impacts national security.

And that brings me to my idea. A modern WPA would obviously need to repair roads, water lines, power lines, etc, but there’s something very important they can build. This program could be used to create a new backbone for the american internet. Just as phones are now ubiquitous, so can internet access and fast bandwidth. We have been compared against the rest of the world and our web access has been found wanting. If we can upgrade our internet infrastructure, we can compete on the world stage against South Korea, India, Romania, Russia, etc. With the increased revenue from faster web access, combined with obviously improving net security due to increased traffic, the USA could become a leader in the world again.

But we still have the issue of the people who worked in the defense industry. We have enormous military production capability, why not put it to use building fiber-optic cable, telecommunication equipment, wireless transmitters, etc? The defense industry has the technical expertise to supply our military electronics, they can surely put their efforts into creating a speedier and more stable internet. Given a national goal and some incentives, the defense industry can gradually be weaned off military spending and put to more constructive use. There will be pain, jobs lost, and the initial outlay of government capital would probably be costly.

Ultimately, it would create a stronger economy, increase our standing in the world, and it would be the 21st century contribution to american exceptionalism. A legacy that would be good for the economy, but also good for the spirit of the country. A sense of shared sacrifice and fraternity. An appeal to our better natures and what made, and can still make, America’s ideals great. Kennedy got us to the moon, Obama can get us to the world wide web.

As of this posting today, Anthony Weiner has announced he will in fact resign from his seat.  Part of it I believe is because his wife is expecting their first child, and this is a good time for him to step aside. We can only hope it is temporary.  The other problem is that one of his “sext messages” was to a 17 year old girl. Something that in of itself, is probably is a career ender. Still, Spitzer came back as a respected voice on the left and is now a recoqnized pundit and liberal voice.

I can’t help but be angry at Pelosi and the rest of the democrats. This is relatively minor and they should have held their ground against the republicans. Obama especially should not have told him to resign. It speaks to Weiner’s loyalty to the party, that he stepped down after the President asked him to.

Here’s hoping we see him again in a few years. I’m shocked to say it, but hearing Pat Buchanan of all people on MSNBC saying that the Democrats threw him under the bus, well, that’s just sad when even someone like him is calling the dems out.

Good Night and Good Luck.

At this time, Anthony Weiner has confessed that he is indeed responsible for the lurid photo in question. Many people, including myself, hoped this was a underhanded move by Andrew Breitbart and his associates. In fact, there are questions as to how he acquired the photo in the first place. Or how it ended up on twitter. Granted, we know that he sent the photo to the woman in question, but there’s something peculiar about it ending up on twitter and Breitbart getting ahold of it. I’m not sure Rep. Weiner is responsible for that part of this story.

Nevertheless, he is guilty of stupidity and negligence.  But nothing else. He made a mistake, but it’s a human mistake and not one anyone can criticize him for, as far as his job as a congressional representative goes.  It has zero effect on his effectiveness as an advocate for New York’s 9th district and few people in congress fight harder for the little guy than Anthony Weiner. And compared to Mark Foley’s online dalliances with underage congressional pages, or John Ensign’s affair with his chief staffer who attained a job via that connection, this is inconsequential. This is not a reason to give him the boot. He has done nothing illegal or that would constitute an abuse of his power.

The current political odds is that Anthony Weiner’s chances are slim of retaining his own seat, and that his dream of being Bloomberg’s successor are shot to hell. I for one, do not agree. Spitzer went down in flames for something similar, but I feel he was unjustly scourged as well. I think he should go forth with contrition, a shrug of his shoulders, and run on his record of being the congressman who best represents New York City. It’s doubtful a republican can take the job, given the blue bent of the 9th. Another democrat might bring him down, but I think he’s not out yet.

I look forward to hopefully seeing him back in office, and to greet him as Mr. Mayor one day. Or…..perhaps even Mr. President. He should take his case to the youth, get them on his side. The older voters may vote more consistently, but the youth vote outnumbers them in most parts of the country. And they’re less likely to judge him as harshly.          Godspeed Rep. Weiner, you’ll need it.

Good Night and Good Luck.

The title of this post refers to the proverbial doomsday clock and it’s countdown to midnight.  I am using it in reference to the recent indications that the republican party will in fact refuse to raise the national debt limit.

Now, what this means, is that the US government would default on it’s debts and obligations.  In addition to the loss of credit rating, international markets and investors would undoubtedly spark a run on the markets. The 08′ crash was precipitated by Lehman Bros. and other corporations, but it was also exacerbated by panicked inverstors scrambling to get out of the falling housing and mortgage markets.  I am of course, over simplifying it, but the clear and present danger is real.

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