Blabrmouth.com - Weekend Update

Republicans to Trade Oil for White House?

Well my fellow Democrats, looks like it is going to be our year. We are finally going to get a serious crack at winning the White House. I know they say the race is close, but McCain is going to suffer for the sins of Bush and the people just want to rinse their mouths out and start anew, and that’s exactly what Barack Obama is selling.

UBS Shutting Down Offshore Banking - I’m Sorry, What?

I’m sorry, what did you say? When the hell was that legal in the first place? Did I miss something at the last international banking scam meeting? Somehow UBS was able to sneak $18 billion dollars out of the United States and into 19,000 secrete bank accounts offshore.

US Air To Pilots: Don’t Top Off!

This has to be the most ef’d up story this month. Seems US Air is trying to increase fuel efficiency by….USING LESS EFFING FUEL! That’s right boys and girls, US Airways pilot’s union said yesterday that the airline is hammering pilots to use less fuel than they feel is safe in order to cut costs.

Note To Big 3 - Learn or Die

So Volkswagen is going to start building cars in Chattanooga, Tenn., Good for them. That makes like what…everyone that makes a car has a plant in the United States? Only problem is, the American car manufacturers can’t seem to get it right.

Viacom - The Only Winning Move is Not To Play!

Smart move Viacom. Unfortunately it took your crack legal team thousands upon thousands of hate letters to figure out that if you pushed this move you would suffer greatly in the pocketbook.

Headlines Suck!

As I have told you guys in previous posts, I scan about 1000 plus news feeds a day to pull out one or two stories that catch my eye. While I was working on this post last night I noticed that it was just one negative headline after another.

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac: What’s The Deal?

Rumors flew last week over the health of the two giant mortgage companies. Were they going to be taken over by the Government? Were they going to go bust? What was their cash position? Then you here they were fine, no problem, plenty liquid, plenty of capital.

Viacom - The Only Winning Move is Not To Play!

Viacom has “backed off” from demands to divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched a video on YouTube, the website has claimed.

Smart move Viacom. Unfortunately it took your crack legal team thousands upon thousands of hate letters to figure out that if you pushed this move you would suffer greatly in the pocketbook. I really am amazed these days with how stupid some companies are. What did Viacom think the mood was going to be from Youtube.com users who…..OMG….also watch a Viacom property as well? If you listen closely you can hear the faint sound of hundreds of thousands of remotes clicking to another channel.

“We are pleased to report that Viacom, MTV and other litigants have backed off their original demand for all users’ viewing histories and we will not be providing that information,” said a statement on the YouTube blog.

The decision will be welcomed by privacy activists, many of whom expressed concern over a US judge’s order for Google to provide the data in early July.

That’s a nice statement isn’t it? And that’s a nice response from privacy activists. Let me spell it out for you Viacom, if you went ahead with pushing for user id’s, the blogosphere was planning to rise up and strike down upon you with the power of God’s own fury! Or….maybe just be really really mad.

Internet Service Providers Overstepping?

How would you like it if I told you what you could download? How would you feel if I came into your home and pulled the plug to your internet connection out of the wall? Well people, it’s happening right under your nose!

There is trouble afoot

I have been reading over the last few weeks some disturbing news coming from the companies that bring us the Internet. In the United States, the talk has been about capping usage and slowing down downloads from torrent sites. In Europe, ISP’s have taken it upon themselves to snoop around customer’s downloads, then send them letters spanking them for illegal file sharing.

This is all well and good, except there are terms of service that these providers gave us spelling out the deliverables from both sides…We pay our bills on time and they provide us with unlimited service without playing “Big Brother.”

Problem is, this isn’t going to get any better. Google is about to hand over to Viacom, not a governmental agency mind you, all the videos I have every viewed on YouTube.com. Not only that, but they are going to provide my user name and friggin’ i.p. address. Tell you what Sumner Redstone, just come to my house and take my keys, while your at it, why don’t you eff my wife and beat my kid you effer.

Think I am being too harsh?

This is all quite scary people! While the world gets smaller the ability to remain anonymous diminishes. Cameras on our streets and highways, fingerprinting, retinal scans, I just want sit in front of my computer in my underwear without worrying if Comcast is looking back at me through my videocam. Now, before you get all over me about being protected from terrorists or saving our kids from online predators, let me just remind you:

Those who would sacrifice any of our precious liberties for a temporary measure of security, deserve neither liberty nor security - Benjamin Franklin

Happy 4th of July!