The media stories have Hollywood corporate fat cats reeling from Wednesday’s shutdown or blackout of more than 12,000 websites like Wikipedia, Reddit and Wired. NJN Network did its small part by wearing black all day.
Continue reading
Wikipedia goes dark for SOPA protest
If SOPA passes the US Congress in anything close to its current form, the internet as we know it will be essentially dead.
We are joining sites around the world to protest like Wikipedia, Flickr, and Reddit.
Continue reading
Former Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis arrested at OWS
City governments and police that are arresting Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters are making a big mistake.
Authorities who refuse to work on the problem are breaching democratic rights to free speech and free assembly. Continue reading
Speaking in support of SOPA, “The MPAA’s Michael O’Leary showed support for regimes that censor the internet, by saying that “the internet isn’t broken” in places like China and Iran… He really should spend some time there speaking to those who have been censored.” Thoughts On The House Judiciary Committee’s Hearings On SOPA TechDirt
Essentially SOPA, if passed, will shut down the internet as we know it to make Sony and Universal richer.
Todd King
Todd King is out in Calgary living the rock and roll dream.
I always have respected him for doing what he did and getting free (Bob Dylan paraphrase).
The Calgary Beacon profiled him with a story about his music and new CD for Stratabuse. Calgary Band Stratabuse Looking to Break Out with First CD
He’s not pushing paper at Music PEI or the government. Todd did both those jobs but he left them to be a rocker.
You can’t be a rocker conforming to the system. Rock and roll is about rebellion against the system, telling the establishment to shove it.
On PEI, the dependence on government money is corrupting rock and roll into a civil service job.
Unless musicians are willing to curry favour with the government and Music PEI, they don’t have a chance at the grant money that floats around twice a year.
With the new attempts by Music PEI to control the PEI Music scene, rebellious musicians will be out of work.
Not to worry – the whole government controlled music scene is imploding under the weight of its own paperwork.
Soon the ECMAs will be a phone in affair. Continue reading
Over the past few hours, the Electronic Frontier Foundation site has gone off-line.
Anyone else and it could be a glitch but with EFF I wonder. They are controversial advocates for Web freedom.
Current battles are with TSA, the FBI and assorted other government agencies.
Does anyone have news?
by Paul MacNeill, publisher, Eastern Graphic
Much is being made about a white poppy campaign initiated by the Island Peace Committee. Since the story first appeared hundreds of comments have been posted on news sites. The vast majority view the white poppy as a stunt and an insult to the symbolism of the traditional red poppy.
It is neither.
The peace committee started the white poppy campaign several years ago. It in no way competes with the sale of red poppies. Its goal is to raise awareness of non-violent conflict resolution. The red poppy is a powerful symbol of remembrance of the sacrifice by Canadian soldiers primarily in the First and Second World War.
To put the red poppy in context, there are some who believe it should be an exclusive symbol of the two world wars and should not be associated with our current military campaign in Afghanistan, which only proves that the poppy is a different thing to different people. As a society we should revere and honour any soldier killed in action, regardless of where the death occurred. Continue reading
Man directing traffic at King and University during rush hour (Torontoist, Adrian Incogmed)
During the afternoon-long power outage in Toronto yesterday the city was thrown into chaos. Traffic lights didn’t work. People ran out of gas because they idled too long and the gas pumps weren’t working. Elevators failed. The subways stopped.
During the traffic congestion, helpful citizens jumped into the fray to direct traffic by hand. Somebody had to do it. The thousands of Toronto police, RCMP, and CSIS officers who filled downtown Toronto only a week before at the G20 were no where to be found.
“While helping out in this way might seem like one of the more civically responsible things you can do during a blackout, Toronto Police actively discourage it, citing safety concerns.” (Torontoist)
It may be hard to get the police back to their normal assignment after a weekend of excitement in Storm Trooper costumers without much control of their actions.
Bubblebattle participants judged not likely to require baton over the head by Toronto Police Chief (Miles Storey/Torontoist)
Safe activity in the G20 War Zone. Please don’t Tweet this story to the Prime Minister lest he budget $1 billion to stop next year’s party
Torontoist – “After Toronto’s torrid weekend at the hands of the G20, Newmindspace’s annual Dr. Seuss–inspired Bubble Battle stepped up to sooth nerves with a gentler kind of combat this past Saturday.”
“This year’s venue was the erstwhile official G20 protest zone in the northern end of Queen’s Park, right in the shadow of the war memorial of Toronto’s own 48th Highlanders.”
Background music was supplied by Pride‘s nearby but well-fenced-in Dyke Day event.
Feist marched in G20 on Saturday (image: Allthegigs)
Spinner – Parts of downtown Toronto’s vibrant music scene became a violent battle zone last weekend as the G20 Summit was held. In the wake of a small group of so-called anarchists attacking store windows and burning abandoned cop cars, heavily armoured riot police shot tear gas, rubber bullets, physically attacked peaceful protesters and used other forms of psychological warfare. Over 1,000 people were arrested and detained, media included, many just for showing up to exercise their rights as citizens.
Much of the action took place just steps from the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, Steve’s Music Store, and MuchMusic’s Queen Street TV studio. Yonge-Dundas Square, where Iggy Pop and the Stooges performed for NXNE less than a week before, also fell victim to destruction and violence. Present among the peaceful protesters — some in body, others in spirit — were a handful of Canadian musicians.
Julie Penner, a gifted violinist who has played with Canadian bands like Broken Social Scene, Do Make Say Think, Lowest of the Low and the FemBots, marched on Saturday during the peaceful protest alongside Feist and Penner’s boyfriend Jason Tait, drummer for the Weakerthans. Continue reading
(Last 31 seconds of police charge on Queen St. at Spadina)
It is a shame on Canada that Prime Minister Harper doesn’t want to hear the voices of Canadians. Neither did the Communist leadership in China at Tienanmen Square.
Harper reacted to the G20 protests the same way the Chinese government did with military might. Harper got ready with in $1 billion in police buildup.
The police attacked the crowd on Queen Street West near Spadina. Up until then people had been walking and protesting, carrying their signs. Those would be Charter Rights in Canada.
After singing O’Canada, a few people sat in the middle of the street and the police charged the crowd. (8:30 in the video) Then the violence began. Don’t take our word for it. The video is crystal clear (after the story break)