European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence. The belief, rightly in our opinion, was that a notice and take down regime of this kind would help creativity flourish and support free speech while protecting personal privacy. If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them — every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video — then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear.

Cory Doctorow has written a thought provoking essay about how he thinks e-books relate to mass produced paper books and hand-copied books. This is not about the end of paper. That won’t happen any time soon. This is about freedom, copyrights, and new forms of distribution. Doctorow is an editor at Boing Boing, a SF author, activist and public speaker.

Calabasas, California has banned smoking in any place people might gather, including outdoor businesses and parks. They have even banned smoking in your own apartment! They say the second hand smoke might seep out windows or doors and annoy neighbors. Check out the the official city website. Reason.TV has an interesting video about the subject.

Obama 08

I usually vote for the Republican or Libertarian candidate for president, but this year I will be voting for Barack Obama. One reason is I’m really curious to see if having an African-American President will affect the racial dynamics in the U.S. But I will also be voting for Obama because the Republicans at the Federal level have lost my support due to the fiasco in Iraq, the warrantless wiretapping, the initiative to build a wall along the Mexico border, the Valerie Plame scandal, the controversy over the dismissal of U.S. attorneys, etc. The Chicago Tribune wrote about why they are endorsing Obama this year. The have never before endorsed a Democratic presidential candidate.

An excerpt from their October 17, 2008 article.

The Republican Party, the party of limited government, has lost its way. The government ran a $237 billion surplus in 2000, the year before Bush took office — and recorded a $455 billion deficit in 2008. The Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate in 2006 because, as we said at the time, they gave the nation rampant spending and Capitol Hill corruption. They abandoned their principles. They paid the price.

We might have counted on John McCain to correct his party’s course. We like McCain. We endorsed him in the Republican primary in Illinois. In part because of his persuasion and resolve, the U.S. stands to win an unconditional victory in Iraq.

It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days. He argued that President Bush’s tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.

McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate–but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin’s exposure to the public. But it’s clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.

[Update: I also forgot to mention the detainees being held in Guantanamo Detention Camp in Cuba and George Bush's position on torture.]

1. Do so much physical or financial damage to them that you break them and they give up fighting.
2. Come to some sort of compromise so your enemies are happy. Which may mean giving up a little or a lot of your power.

There are other ways of turning your enemies that take a longer time. You can slowly change their minds so that they eventually learn to love you. They sometimes can be converted to your religion. You can change your ways so they accept you.

One of the difficult parts of the War on Terror is identifying the enemy. The men who hijacked United Flight 93 were probably Muslim and today many people fear Muslims. The best way to handle fear is through knowledge. Notice I did not say acceptance. You do not need to sympathize with Muslims to deal with your fear of them. Even if the U.S.A. is a “Christian nation” the Constitution protects everyone’s right to exercise religion freely. Until we change the Contitution, Muslims in the United States of America have all the rights that everyone else has.

From WikiSource:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Hate is not illegal, but it is frowned upon. Judge a man by his actions, not his words.

See also Religion & Law.