X-Cop Fly Company

From Lew Rockwell:

From The Hill:

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor predicted Thursday that a case involving WikiLeaks would likely come before the court.

She said that the WikiLeaks “incident,” in which the group posted thousands of classified Afghanistan war documents online, “and others are going to provoke legislation that’s already being discussed in Congress, and so some of it is going to come up before [the Supreme Court.]“

When I read this, I recalled WikiLeaks’ claim that the New York Times was involved:

(Click images for full size.)

The New York Times has claimed involvement in the processing of these memos:

Again, here is the statement from Justice Sotomayor:

She said that the WikiLeaks “incident,” in which the group posted thousands of classified Afghanistan war documents online, “and others are going to provoke legislation that’s already being discussed in Congress, and so some of it is going to come up before [the Supreme Court.]“

Given that the New York Times has a strong left-wing bias, could this also be a pre-engineered vehicle by the Democratic Party to support a massive regulatory change in the Internet?

Keep in mind recent lobbying efforts for a “Drudge tax” on blogs to subsidize the newspaper industry, as well as changes in “fair use” laws so as to require a “copyright license” to quote news material, and proposed propaganda efforts claiming the mainstream media is a “reputable” “public service”.

“The power to tax is the power to destroy” -McCullock v. Maryland, 1819

You Are Strawberry Pudding

You are young at heart and very open minded. You love to be up on the latest trends. Trying new things excites you, and it’s likely that you have a creative streak. You like to push the envelope a little. Your friends know to expect the unexpected with you. You are easily brought to the point of bliss. The world just makes you so darn excited!

Blogthings: What Flavor Pudding Are You?

Your Brain is Conceptual

You can’t help but look at the big picture. You’re good at putting things together. You think long term. You always have a vision for the future and an idea of how you want things to be. You are a very intuitive person. Even though you are constantly thinking, it feels like answers just appear for you. You enjoy a challenge, especially an intellectual one. You are constantly taking the initiative and pushing yourself.

Blogthings: What’s Your Brain Like?

You Are a Cat

You are agile and mysterious. You have you own way of navigating the world. You enjoy exploring new ideas and places, but you also like to be able to retreat quickly. You are a bit standoffish and aloof, but you aren’t shy. In fact, you are brave and courageous. Always resourceful and fearless, you can handle any situation. You are a survivor.

Blogthings: What Origami Animal Are You?

You Have a Hippie Soul

You are free as the wind, and you don’t like following rules. You’re open minded and nonjudgemental. You just enjoy the journey of life. You’re neither a leader nor a follower. You’re own your own blissful path. You believe that people should love more and hate less. It’s really that simple.

Blogthings: Is Your Soul Hippie, Punk, or Goth?

You Should Be Elected US Senator

You have a strong interest in political issues – both on a state and local level. You love to debate for debating’s sake. You could argue for hours. You are dignified and well spoken. People naturally want to give you authority. You are a wheeler and dealer. You are willing to compromise a little to get what you want.

Blogthings: What Office Should You Be Elected To?

I’ve mentioned previously on this blog the treatment of the band Bush based entirely upon their radio hits.

Now it appears the same thing is occurring with STP. This band has existed since 1992 (1991 if you count the non-grunge Mighty Joe Young demo material)

Their first album in 1992, the grungy Core, has lots of hits played on classic rock stations, including “Sex Type Thing”, “Plush”, and “Wicked Garden”.

1994′s Purple (incorrectly considered self-titled as the word “purple” is written in Chinese) is very 70s rock sounding, Led Zeppelin-like. Two hits from Purple are frequently played by classic rock stations, “Big Empty” (also used in The Crow) and “Interstate Love Song”. (A heavier hit, “Unglued”, is no longer heard on the radio)

I was a fan of this band since I was in 6th grade. This was 1996, after Tiny Music was released. This had a more messy sound, wasn’t always heavy, and sounded similar to the Beatles at times.

In 1999, after a brief break-up (including terrible solo work by singer Scott Weiland), No. 4 was released. It was very heavy, kind of like Core, and there were a few softer Tiny Music-like songs, but also very messy, as there were psychological issues at the time, including Scott Weiland’s drug addiction.

Shangri-La Dee Da, released in 2001, was mostly acoustic. I didn’t like it and found it boring, but others disagreed with me. There were frequent obvious references to Courtney Love (Hole like most others had “sold out” at the time), including the hit “Hollywood Bitch” and the conspiratorial “Too Cool Queenie”

(note I can only find a session recording, if you are interested in the conspiracy theory click here for the lyrics)

A greatest hits album, 2003′s Thank You (from which the above video came from, as I am told, I do not have this album). The buy-this-anyway-hit was “All In The Suit That You Wear” (sounds kinda like a cross between No. 4 and Shangri-La Dee Da):

After another break-up, Scott joined members of Guns & Roses to found Velvet Revolver, which I didn’t like (nor do I like Guns & Roses). The rest of STP joined Filter’s singer Ray Luzier to form Army of Anyone, or, “The Rest of Shangri-La Dee Da”.

A few months ago, they came back with their self titled album, Stone Temple Pilots. This album was just plain excellent. IMO Shangri-La Dee Da is no way to end a career unless you’ve given up on music. The radio hit “Between the Lines”, which will probably be locked away in the ClearChannel vault, is heavy yet polished, with the bridge lifted from Nirvana’s song “Stay Away” Hopefully they will continue to release records and not break up with another Shangri-La Dee Da Here are some songs from the new album, and the Nirvana song for comparison:

Having heard all these songs, go check out the reviews on Amazon for Stone Temple Pilots’ new 2010 self-titled release. All of the negative reviews say “This isn’t Core or Purple“, as if this was STP’s third album released 10 years after being a one-hit wonder.

To put it another way: as classic rock and modern rock radio have become merged over the past 5 or so years, too many songs were lost, reducing great careers into one-hit wonders. Pearl Jam for instance had dozens of releases on old modern/alternative rock stations. Less than 5-8 of them are played now.

Referring to the inability to buy it and state barriers:

(warning, loud and distorted audio)

I had posted my blog post I made on Aug 18, which included a video and petition opposing construction of a mosque near the WTC, to several mailing lists and newsgroups I am on. It seems that more people agreed with construction than I thought. Most criticism comes from a Catholic Yahoo group, where many claim “hate speech” and a violation of Jesus Christ’s command to love your enemies. I watched the video several times, as did my family, and there was nothing “hateful” about it. Others felt it was discriminatory due to past violence by Christians not resulting in protest if a church was built in that area.

Paleolibertarian anarcho-capitalist blogger Lew Rockwell supports the mosque on private property rights grounds, and Catholic blogger Mark Shea compares the phenomenon to restrictions on protests against Planned Parenthood.

Islam is a highly dangerous threat to the world right now. Material is being censored and people are dying simply by pointing out the negative portions of the religion. Past Christian violence was due to poor decision making by corrupt officials, and the spread of religion through force is not commanded anywhere in the Bible. God-sanctioned violence from the Jewish people in the Old Testament is often quoted in opposition to this – these are specific battles and are not a command for all Jews or Christians to spread the religion through force. Christian leaders frequently apologize for their past acts of violence, yet Islam refuses to apologize and continues their violence, following the Quran’s command to spread theocracy. These verses still exist and regardless of whether the Muslim is peaceful or a terrorist, Allah in the Quran commands the spread of theocracy through violence.

I love my enemies, Muslim or not. I’ve known Muslims in college, had been friends with some, and they weren’t my enemies at all. But I don’t have to agree with them or support what they do.

More people need to reject the political correctness and theft of culture the Left-wing Establishment forces on people and pay attention to what is going on.

UPDATE: Here is a statement from Catholic New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, arguing for peaceful compromise, such as moving the mosque somewhere else. He cites an effort by JPII to move a convent which was near Auschwitz.

From Fox News:

Greek Orthodox leaders trying to rebuild the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks expressed shock this week after learning, via Fox News, that government officials had killed a deal to relocate the church.

The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, once a tiny, four-story building in the shadows of lower Manhattan, was destroyed in 2001 by one of the falling World Trade Center towers. Nobody from the church was hurt in the attack, but the congregation has, for the past eight years, been trying to rebuild its house of worship.

Though talks between the church and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey stalled last year, church leaders say they’ve been trying to kick-start discussions ever since. But amid debate over whether a proposed Islamic community center should go forward near Ground Zero, government officials threw cold water on the prospect of any deal with the church — telling Fox News the deal is off the table.

The archdiocese and Port Authority now offer sharply conflicting accounts of where things went wrong. The Port Authority has claimed the church was making additional demands — like wanting the $20 million up front and wanting to review plans for the surrounding area. They say the church can still proceed on its own if it wishes.

“This little church deserves to be rebuilt. It’s symbolic, not just for Orthodox Christians, not just for Christians, but for all Americans,” Arey said, calling the mosque debate “helpful” to the church’s cause. “I believe that people around the country are asking themselves the question — why all this talk about a mosque being built near Ground Zero? What about a little church that was destroyed on 9/11? … This is basically a bureaucratic impasse. This will dissolve in the face of the American public consciousness.”

Mr. President, please stand up and defend our Judeo-Christian values, express your public and unwavering support for St. Nicholas Church, and ensure that it is rebuilt.”

From Acts 17 Apologetics via YouTube:

See also: Act! for America’s Stop the Mosque petition to Michael Bloomberg and New York officials. 99,622 have signed so far.

…concentrating more on current events now.

I’ll try not to whine as much as I did years ago on other blogs.

the future, what is it? it’s frightening because there really isn’t a succeeding stage to look forward to. it gets me very upset and years ago i lost a job partly due to stress over it (there were other reasons, but that might have been all part of it). if you did things wrong back then, there are no opportunities but the next day at work. a friend told me that the issues in 2007 were due to a mixing of social and work life. my next job i kept that in mind. but to my emotional state it didnt matter. i cant be in quiet anymore without thinking bad things. this has severely damaged my faith as well, since church is generally quiet. i know i’m not alone in this, i’ve read other people in numerous situations like this. it’s like socialism – a real hard time unless everyone is a socialist. but it’s a rarity to find someone who isn’t retired and who follows god or jesus christ.. you can always learn from your mistakes but when you can’t re-apply them to the same groups of people because the situation doesnt exist. all i can think about is how many friends i upset in college and high school. but it’s years later, college is expensive, jobs are not needed and the fact that i’m 26 and hangnig around 18-21 year olds would make me seem like a sicko to people. there were a few older people back then, one of whom was in our circle, but i could be wrong about other people, and the price tag isn’t worth it either. everyone says the same thing, everyone has their problems, but nobody gets together and does anything about it. i know all this makes me sound like a hippie. but it’s embracing that which matters, such as faith, family, friends, thinking about the world and questioning it instead of apathy and impulsive mechanical living, and getting together to do all this, is the way to stop this mess.