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'$b. .d$ $$' '-._ $! `#-._. ._.4P' ._-' .d$' P A 1 N M A G A Z I N E I S S U E F I V E ._.-#' PA1Nv5 +------------------------------------------------------+ PA1Nv5 +------' '------+ | 4$$$$$$$t PA1N MAGAZINE STAFF | ! $$' ------------------------------------- !--+ ' $$. ' | ' '#$$$$$$k Editor in Chief - alienbinary ' | | $$ Co-Editor - Turnspike ! | | . $$ Editor - angel ice | ! | '#$$#' PA1N Enforcer - Nemisis | i | Field Operative - Danger Girl | | Writer - Manuel O'Kelly | | American Asshole - RumblingSky | ! Spec Ops - Red Dragon ! | Writer - Kaseisol | | AB's Fedaykin - Crazy Ivan | | SPECIAL GUEST!@ - Cimmerian | +------. .------+ ' PA1Nv5 +------------------------------------------------------+ PA1Nv5 ._. +------' i i '------+ | $$$$ the official magazine of $$$$ : i '$$$n. ________. RantRadio ._______ .d$$$' | . '$$$$. | | .$$$$' ' +-----------------------[ Table of Discontent ]----------------------+ . ' ! ! . | PA1Nv5x01 Letter from the Editor alienbinary | | PA1Nv5x02 Letter from the Co-Editor Turnspike | : | PA1Nv5x03 No More Apathy alienbinary | . ' | PA1Nv5x04 Lt. Colonel West Kaseisol | | PA1Nv5x05 Eyewitnessing the FTAA Protest alienbinary | | Danger Girl | | PA1Nv5x06 RantRadio News Update Cimmerian | | PA1Nv5x07 RANT: the Unholy Season alienbinary | . | PA1Nv5x08 Dissecting the Twenty Dollar Bill Turnspike | | PA1Nv5x09 ComSec and the cgi-bin alienbinary | | PA1Nv5x10 Rantradio IRC, November 2003 RantRadio IRC | | PA1Nv5x11 Let's Play Oligopoly! Manuel O'Kelly | | PA1Nv5x12 Remember Personal Responsibility? alienbinary | | PA1Nv5x13 Kill Your Television alienbinary | | PA1Nv5x14 Outro alienbinary | ! ! +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x01---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Letter from the Editor ] [ alienbinary ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x01 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- Let me set the mood. Glass breaks, metal scrapes against concrete. An unmistakeable dripping starts, a viscous liquid falling from an open wound. The ground is brown and green and red all at once, and everything feels as if it's on fire. The noise is deafening, as if everyone had risen from their graves to mourn what has become of their world. Something hard and carved out of stone hits a precious peice of fine china. Someone's family heirloom breaks and falls to the floor, and a chain of generations held together by a simple thread comes completely undone. Lightbulbs shatter, spreading waves of broken glass over the spent carcasses of the lamps they used to inhabit. Decadence falls into decay. The fifth issue is upon us. If you don't have something on your mind that's making you angry, either you're very very drunk, or you aren't paying attention. Let me offer some things up for you to pick at and fuel your adrenaline rushes. How about RFID tags being put inside lipstick containers so that companies could monitor their customers? If you didn't know about that already, PAY MORE ATTENTION. I'm supposed to be working on a presentation for a communications class right now. I'm supposed to, but I'm not. The vast majority of the things we do consist of things that we're told to do, things we feel compelled to do because no one has offered a reason for why we shouldn't perpetuate a cycle that's been in place since before we were all born. The thing is, most of the things we do, they don't actually matter at all. The bills you pay, getting "work" done, going to school, going to class, going to your job, or going to some party simply because somebody sent you an embossed invitation; these are NOT always the best things you could be doing with your time. How many of you have simply gone to school every day, and didn't pay attention? If you went, you should have paid attention, right? Not necessarily. The harsh truth is, the system has failed us. This sort of deficit then leaks into the quality of the things that we, as citizens or denizens of this country and planet, are supposed to just go about doing. If I beleived in regret, I'd probably be remorseful that I never listened to half of the things my teachers told me in high school. At the same time, however, I don't feel anything about it now, because regret is a pointless emotion. We can't change the past, and if we could, we probably shouldn't try it. What matters is what we do with the extroardinarily small bit of time we have on this rock to find something that truly invigorates us. I don't know what that is for you, it's different for everyone. What matters to me, at least, at this point in my life, is to be the harbinger of truth. I want to help people peel the red tape back, and pull off the big dogmatic blindfolds. Here's an experiment to help illustrate my point. Do something you enjoy, anything, I don't care, and it's not pertinent to this at all. Now, ask someone of supposed authority, such as a parent or a spouse, if you can go do this thing, the longer the time frame you ask, the better this will work. Whoever you ask, unless they too know that time is a big fucking illusion will probably start listing things you have to do. Now, here's the experiment: see how many times this person says the following things "because I said so," "because you need to," or something similar to that effect. If they repeat what you need to do, but they still provide no reasoning, tell them to get a personality. Personalities are hard to come by, but it seems that far too few people actually have one of their own. So what does this have to do with why I'm not doing a particular peice of "work?" To tell you the truth, it's because this is more important to me than some jackass presentation for a class I'm not interested in. Lately, I find myself wondering what I'm doing in college. Everyone does at some point, this is entirely normal for a college student, or any student at all. The thing is, I was trying to figure out why I was doing a certain thing, but hadn't touched the stack of work I was neglecting. I came to this conclusion: The work that I was in dereliction of doing, came from classes I didn't care for. These were topics that didn't stimulate my brain, and they made me feel like going back to bed. I was deliberately setting the bullshit aside, and saying "no," while embracing the things that mattered to me. I don't profess to beleive that procrastination is actually a good idea. In fact, it's a fucking terrible practice. It always screws you over in the end; however this leads me to what you need to do. You need to live your own life. You need to do things your own way, and you need to stop letting the world forcefeed you rhetoric, otherwise we are doomed as a species. I for one, as well as the rest of my staff, don't care to be part of an apathetic world, and what matters to me is to make sure one doesn't perpetuate as is, and what I'm doing is attempting to stop this apathy. Once again, welcome to Volume 5 of PA1N Magazine. alienbinary -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x02---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Letter from the Co-Editor ] [ Turnspike ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x02 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- This week I realized that I should work for Dell. You might have seen the recent Dell commercials that show some of the torture tests they put their laptops through. Well after looking at what I did to my own laptop a few weeks ago, I think laptops need to be much tougher, and I can help. http://www.spfd2600.org/turnspike/hurtlaptop.jpg What I am proposing to Dell is the Turnspike Torture Test (we can just call it T). Dell can trash the pneumatic laptop dropping machines, and all the other gadgets they use to abuse their products, because all I require is a large room with high ceilings and a supply of laptops to test. Now to get in the mood, I can call Dell customer service which is in India. After decyphering thick Indian accents for half an hour, I would be ready to maul my first box. I would start by pummeling a keyboard until my fists bleed and keys begin popping off, and the circuits underneath crack. The pain of my wounded fists would fuel my rage toward a second laptops, which would be drop-kicked accross the room. This would no doubt wrech havoc on my toes, but would make my bleeding palms less significant, so a third machine would them be opened up an thrown against a wall like a clown would throw a cream pie. This chain reaction would go on until the testing department is satisfied, then the researchers would coral me into a cage with electric prods like they might do with enraged zoo gorrilas who need their habitats cleaned. As I rattle the bars of my cage, foaming at the mouth, researchers would converge on the scene, measuring skidmarks, estimating the trajectory of jettisoned laptop batteries, and pulling ribbon cables out of the rafters. After a quick clean-up, another table of laptops would be rolled out, the room would be cleared of personnel, and my cage would be opened by remote. Round two. This would go on until I would eventualy collapse into a gasping, bleeding meat pile in a clean room full of scattered debris. After a long nap I would pick myself up, clock out, and go home. I imagine I could handle this about once a month, then probably more often as I adjust to the job and build my stamina. By taking on this job I can help Dell build more durable laptops, provide an outlet for my own stress, and enable my doctor to afford that summer home he has always wanted. Of course Dell can cover my medical bills. If they had to, they could install a webcam and charge a nominal fee to view the carnage and use those profits to pay for my healthcare. Wouldn't you watch? -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x03---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ No More Apathy ] [ alienbinary ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x03 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- +------------------------------------------------------------------+ ' ' "Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace. These are not polite suggestions, these are codes of behavior, and those of you that ignore them will pay the dearest cost." - the Boondock Saints (1999) ! ! +------------------------------------------------------------------+ The world is full of people who will do everything they can to make sure that no matter what the cost, it's always them that comes out on top. You can find these people anywhere; they exist in every facet of every community and they don't give a damn about anyone. Usually, these people get away with the most obnoxious or heinous crimes, simply because they can always earn a second, third, fourth or sixth chance. The people who don't get away, they rarely did anything in the first place. Those who are honest, hardworking people, they are the least likely to find justice in court. There are people in this world that will create chaos and confusion, drama and misery just to occupy their minds. These parasites devestate whole swatches of people, letting each victim fall to the ground bleeding from a stuck heart. The saddest, or perhaps most disturbing part about this fact, is that most of these people don't have any idea that they are coming up with interpretations of scenarios that are impossible. They get angry and jealous and hurt when they can't have exactly what they want, when they want it. They feed off of the pain and suffering of decent people and construct elaborate fantasies to satisfy their needs and desires. The worst part about these creatures, has to do with their victims; the regular people they trample all over in the pursuit of what is ultimately not a goal, but a trophy. The people who are most susceptible to fall into these traps are usually the most trusting, and most sincere people you could meet. Most of these future victims, however, end up justifying the abuse. They make up scenarios as well, derivatives of the predatory lie, despite the full knowledge of the truth. You might be one of these people, and if you are, you probably already know so. But if you aren't someone who can be drawn into this sort of a situation, you might be asking "why would it be easier to blame themselves." The answer is because they cannnot accept the possibility that some people in this world are simply evil. To these people, it's so much more cut and dry to consider the idea that everything they do is simply wrong, and that's the way things are. I'm sick and tired of watching as my friends bleed, as my world falls into disarray. I cannot, nor do I intend to, stay silent any longer. We, as a community, must seek to stop this whatever it takes. The solution is to altogether abandon the idea of apathy, and to keep our eyes open and our ears sharp, no matter how grotesque the world may reveal itself to be. True, no one should put thier own sanity or safety in harms way if it can be avoided, but don't expect that pretending you didn't hear the screams or see the writing on the wall will protect you from the consequences of indifference. It might seem odd what I'm saying. Am I asking people to take action to protect the people we love, to not be passive, to call the police, or to call out injustice? Yes, I sure as hell am. I'll take this farther than that. No one is only a warrior, and warriors can also need to be rescued. That's why I say community is important. It's time we look after eachother, and refuse to be spectators to the figurative and literal bloodshed we try not to see every day. If you want to take action to make the world a better place, you already have. It's your desire to fight for that which is truly good that is the first and most important step in taking back our world, and taking back our lives. There are times when you will feel like one of these predators which you hunt; however this is because after so much fighting, you can't NOT start to feel like a hunter. And while I suggest that we respect and obey the law, much the way the civil rights movement did in the 1960's, I don't beleive we have to succumb to the boundaries of the law. Let's clean up. If you see trash on the floor in your apartment, do you pick it up? Do you throw out the trash, and take out the problem? You probably do. Think of the world as an extension of your apartment, and grab a shovel. It's payback time. These predators have taken too much, and the price they will pay might be the hands with which they have used to cross the line. -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x04---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Walking into the Crossfire: Eyewitnessing the FTAA Protest ] [ by alienbinary and Danger Girl ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x04 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- _.$$$'-. .-'$$$._ +------.$$$$' '$$$$.---------+ | _4$$$' [ Preface ] '$$$b_ | ! ' ' ! | It's important to make the following clear. The events detailed in | | PA1Nv5x03 took place on November 21st, 2003, in Boston Common, (MA.) | | The purpose of this article is to neither condemn or condone the | | movement to stop the Free Trade Area of the Americas; however it is | | the role of independent media such as PA1N Magazine to tell the news, | | and especially to tell the news stories that don't usually get | | reported in the so-called "straight media." I'm not at all expecting | | that you, the reader, won't gather an impression on my personal stance | | on the issue, but I do ask you to read my observations on the protest | | and the police presence itself. Perhaps, when I know more about NAFTA | | and the FTAA, I'll be able to give a definitive stance on the issue, | | but for now, these are just the facts as myself, alienbinary and | | Danger Girl can recall. --alienbinary | ! . . ! | | +--- '$$$$. .$$$$' ---+ '$$$_. ._$$$' Walking out of a restaurant in downtown Boston directly into one of the first public anti-FTAA Demonstrations is something that doesn't happen too often. Ironically, the only reason I had left the train station at that particular stop was because I needed to use a bathroom. More ironically, I was barred access to the bathroom until I purchased something, a rule implemented to keep the homeless from using their facilities. [ ed. note: as much as I'm pro-sanitation, I think preventing someone from using a public bathroom is a heinous thing to do. ] When I crossed the street, I found myself caught between the vendor I was walking towards, who sold everything from jewelry to miniature pipes, and a massive march that had taken over the entire Boston Common sidewalk while I wasn't looking. I first made it my business to establish what the acronyms stood for. I was in the middle of a protest, I wanted to be an informed observer, not a gawking average sheep. The protest was against the FTAA, which I learned was the "Free Trade Area of the Americas," which is a proposed overhaul of the NAFTA Treaty, the North American Free Trade Association. The overhaul would expand the limited powers of NAFTA, according to the Public Citizens Global Trade Watch, to "every country in the western hemisphere except Cuba." The details of this actual organization I'll go over later, but I'd like to describe what it was like to witness an impromptu rally, and to feel the tension and energy in the air. College Students of course, dominated the demographic, but whole familes marched, representing themselves as fellow Latin Americans who would be exploited by the FTAA, I saw a local carpenters' union, and yes, even the World Socialist Movement was represented. People walked by blowing toy trumpets and plastic whistles, chanting slogans about the demise of our rights by corporations. The protest was both preceeded and flanked by Boston Police Department motorcyle escorts; escorts whose nature was revealed later when the protest began to actually show some force. I remember paying attention to the squawking of police radios and even what sounded like "handy talkies," the federal two-ways. Something was amiss, more so than the fact that people were parading in front of me holding fake begging bowls, dressed as hobos with nametags identifying such companies as "Enron," "Exxon," and "General Motors." These effigies were representative, according to the GTW's pamphlet, of the approach the companies were using to siphon money from local governments into their own pockets, using the guise of first NAFTA, and now the FTAA. I saw a man with a full basic dress uniform, woodland camo, an armband and a stage pistol Luger, wearing a helmet and a George W. Bush mask. Some of the costumes were like those you would expect from a nightmare, some out of a comedy, and others at a bad halloween party run by activists on a night off. I watched as they filed by, groups of girls in black wearing hats the shapes of airplanes saying "enemy of nature" and shirts protesting Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, the 'frankenfoods' that the FDA seems to keep allowing to fall into the hands of consumers, without any warning. I remember my first instinct in reaction to this part being to cheer them on, which I did, along with the entire city block, something I hadn't expected. In America, demonstrations are no longer welcome. Under the Patriot Act, if it can be claimed (not proven, just claimed) that the protest blocked traffic, or even disrupted things a little bit, then it can be considered domestic terrorism. Therefore, my second reaction was apparently well founded, a feeling of general unease. Shortly, the BPD began to communicate in hushed tones, calling for specialized divisions. I recognized the acronyms as the ones used for riot-control. Riot Control. Danger Girl and myself had been at Boston Common for at least a half an hour, and neither of us witnessed a single riotous action. There was no violence. There was no disturbing the peace. There was nothing that warranted the next police "escort." Now, from both formal and informal training, I was expecting to see represntatives from Emergency Medical Services and probably a Fire Marshall... but there wasn't. Instead, in lieu of EMS, Meat Wagons were snuck in behind the rear of the trailing protest. At first I thought to myself, really not allowing the reality of what was to go down to hit me, was that these were just there for blockades. If you've ever seen a Boston paddy wagon, it looks like a large ice cream truck that has been retrofitted into an Armored Personell Carrier. I looked uneasily at the plates on the side. Prisoner Convoys had made their way to the scene. I heard an officer who looked to be a lieutenent, by the number and arrangement of chevrons on his side, call in a request for backup to central dispatch. Why was there a prisoner convoy? Why were riot control cops around? I was nervous to find out. I took several photographs of the demonstration with my palm pilot, as well as a couple of the unnecessary police presence, for readers to decide for themselves. Photo Gallery ----------------------------------------------- http://thorn.e-lite.org/loki/ftaa/Set237_02.jpg http://thorn.e-lite.org/loki/ftaa/Set237_01.jpg http://thorn.e-lite.org/loki/ftaa/Set236_02.jpg http://thorn.e-lite.org/loki/ftaa/Set236_01.jpg ------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing I saw warranted this kind of police state action. Not particularly feeling like being interrogated or harrassed by local cops and State Troopers, Danger Girl and I decided, wisely, to leave. Before I left, however, I did accept a pamphlet, the number and publishing information I've listed below. I was carrying it visibly in my back pocket. There was nothing to worry about, for chrissakes, I work security. I'm not some looter, and I wasn't exactly a part of the spectacle. Yet, when I arrived in Hynes Convention Center stop, and exited the front, I heard on my way out a communique between one detective to another, using nextel two-way radios. I'm almost certain that he when he asked where to meet his partner, the response reciprocated was "Park Street," and that the look on the gold sheild's face, even though he was MBTA, not BPD, was a pained one. He was on assignment. I remember him looking at my back pocket, and shaking his head at the pamphlet. Subsequently I pulled it out and started reading it conspicuously. I thought this was America, where the anarchistic pamphleteer was revered, not hated and hunted. I remember this bothering me, the same as it bothered me the same way the last part of this event I'll recount for you did, too. Right before I went down into the subway station to leave, I was trying to pass by the prisoner convoys. Feeling torn, because I respect the badge, and I respect the fact that these people had a job to do, I couldn't not glance into one of the APCs. When I did, I briefly made eye contact with an officer who shared a whole myriad of emotions and information with me, without any words. He merely communicated, using his eyes, that he was sorry for what he was doing. A look of dissonance, torn-allegiance was all over the faces of everyone present. These students, these people marching, everyone involved; these were college kids and families. There was nothing criminal going on whatsoever. These officers who had taken a sacred oath to "Serve and Protect," a job I have more respect for than the majority of self-proclaimed "activists," were under orders to enforce an unjust law. They were supposed to find some fault in the actions of these students, and arrest a dozen or so, just to set an example. Nothing came of the claimed riot. In fact, I checked the local newspapers, both the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald, and it was as if nothing had happened at all. I understand that this may have just been considered "another protest," under certain circumstances. Park Street is the home of both Emerson College and Suffolk University. It's not uncommon for otherwise unusual things to happen there. Except, there's a problem with this logic. If I had to estimate, there were hundreds of people present, and the organization involved was rather good in my opinion. The thing is, nothing went wrong. There was no conflict, there was nothing to villify. The very companies being condemned couldn't very well condone or even acknowledge the brutal truth of these people. So what does that suggest about the police presence? What does that suggest about democracy? I'm not entirely sure. What it suggests about the modern media, however, is very very clear. If there's nothing to villify in the actions of several hundred concerned citizens from all different backgrounds, then there's nothing to report. Any report of a peacefull demonstration would have seemed to condone it, and they just couldn't handle that. Such is the reason why I've written this account, with the help of my friend, who'll be known for now as Danger Girl. These people deserve to be heard, and for those voices to be recorded. Although in the eyes of many, going to a protest these days is "moral masturbation" [ ed. note: the entire rantradio demographic knows exactly who said that... ], at least they did something. In argument for the demonstration, I would point out that I'd never heard of the FTAA, and probably, neither have many of you reading this. That being the case, someone got their point accross, because I heard the message. Perhaps we can't expect the rallies of the civil rights movement, the vietnam war or the WTO, but we can respect those that protest something no one is aware of. I'd say that this was less of a protest, than it was of an informative march. People watching were so caught off guard, and drawn in, there was an instant hunger to understand created. When it was communicated what the FTAA could mean, these people were cheered on. Although on a microscopic scale at first, if everyone rose up, maybe just a little, and said what they felt, voiced there opinion, maybe we could acheive something. Maybe some difference could be made for the better. Anti-FTAA Resources: 1. Public Citizens Global Trade Watch, Pamphlet number E9010, 2003. 2. PCGTW Website, http://www.tradewatch.org/ 3. Jobs with Justice (JwJ), http://www.jwj.org/global/FTAA/FTAAresources.htm 4. UMASS Amherst STOP FTAA, Amherst MA, mailto:stopftaaumass@mail.com 5. StopFTAA, http://www.stopftaa.org/ -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x05---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Lt. Col West ] [ Kaseisol ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x05 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- By now we have all heard of the one, Lt. Col West, the Army officer who is now under threat of court-martial for the alleged assault on an Iraqi Policeman, whom he deemed was aiding the insurgents. The allegation, which Lt. Col West Does Not deny, is that he frightened the Iraqi into disclosing details of an impending attack by firing a pistol near his head. The pistol was fired into a sand filled bucket used to clear ammunition. Lt. Col West admits to doing so in order to ensure the safety of himself and his men from an impending attack by insurgent snipers. The US Army now wants to possibly court-martial the Lt. Col under the Uniform Code of Military Justice Section 928. Article 128. Assault, which states: (a) Any person subject to this chapter who attempts or offers with unlawful force or violence to do bodily harm to another person, whether or not the attempt or offer is consummated, is guilty of assault and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. (b) Any person subject to this chapter who-- (1) commits an assault with a dangerous weapon or other means or force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm; or (2) commits an assault and intentionally inflicts grievous bodily harm with or without a weapon; is guilty of aggravated assault and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. Ok, now it's my turn. Are you kidding me? They are going to prosecute a decorated, combat hardened soldier for roughing up and scaring a suspected enemy combatant and possibly saving the lives of soldiers under his command.. Whoa Whoa, Stop and think. When you imagine a war in your head what do you see? Do pictures of death, destruction and other bad and terrible things come to mind? War, my friends is not pretty, It is not a Playstation game nor is it a Hollywood movie. It is hell, pure and simple. Now I am not speaking of this first hand but from speaking with my grandfather and with friends who have been in several combat situations. One friend in particular was in a firefight with the PDF in Panama and when he fired a grenade into a balcony window that snipers were using to kill 3 of his men. What he didn't know is that the snipers had cowardly taken 2 women hostage and that they also were killed. The PC (politically correct) lawyers of the Navy stepped in and he was stripped of rank and thrown in the brig for 3 months for the killing of 3 innocents. He was later released and reinstated when it was brought to light that the snipers had used children by shooting them in the street, to lure the Marines to a crossfire. The point I am trying to make here is that in a combat situation, there are no rules. Sure we can try to adhere to pre-determined rules of engagement but when the shit starts hitting the fan and the bad guys break the rules, sometimes we must also do so in order to survive. If you break down war to its simplest form, it is who he has the most men last, wins! Now, taking all I have just said, realize that this man WAS NOT even tortured, under the definition of the word. Under International Law, Article 8 (2) (a) (ii)-1 War Crime of Torture: the following must be met to be considered torture: 1. The perpetrator inflicted severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon one or more persons. 2. The perpetrator inflicted the pain or suffering for such purposes as: obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation or coercion or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind. 3. Such person or persons were protected under one or more of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. 4. The perpetrator was aware of the factual circumstances that established that protected status. 5. The conduct took place in the context of and was associated with an international armed conflict. 6. The perpetrator was aware of factual circumstances that established the existence of an armed conflict. If you perceive scaring a man to be inflicting severe mental pain or suffering, then you have never talked to someone who has been in combat. Being scared and frightened is a key component in war. It is the key component in any military strategy, to break the will of the enemy, to route them. It is my experience that near every person who has been in combat has been scared out of their minds. Basically what we have here is another example of an increasingly politically correct military, afraid of bad publicity in a time where we seem to be groveling at the enemies feet. They are afraid of a public outcry from those who oppose the war and who side with the Islamic Extremists who threaten to destroy this country. They are afraid of upsetting a Muslim population that is already upset. The military machine is becoming a blight of beauracracy and a detriment to the security not only of this country but soon to the entire free world. Do not allow the military to sacrifice a hero to appease the will of the complacent and of the enemy. Do not allow them to ruin the good name and good service of a one Lt. Col. West. Links * Senators Back Officer Accused of Abusing Iraqi Detainee o http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103564,00.html * Officer facing charges would do it again o http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35702 * Uniform Code of Military Justice o http: //www.military-network.com/main_ucmj/SUBCHAPTERX.html#928.128 * International Law, definition of torture o http://www.apt.ch/un/definition.htm [ editor's note: this article was written at the request of myself. By now, it should be clear that my views on the war are probably quite different from Kaseisol's-- for the most part. However, like Kaseisol, I have friends that have been 'in the shit,' that have seen things that would make anyone have nightmares for the rest of their lives. You know what the predominant night-terror or recurring nightmares are visions of fellow combatants being slaughtered. Sun Tzu, the greatest general in chinese history (possibly the history of the world) said in "The Art of War" that if you have any options aside from bloodshed, then take them into serious consideration. To paraphrase him: anyone who has seen war and can say it is a good thing, is lying. What did Sun Tzu mean? He meant that if you can outsmart your opponent, and avoid a full on confrontation with the enemy, such as a potential sniper attack against a full platoon, then you should pursue the avenues necessary to avoid this attack. In my opinion, albeit, I wasn't there; Lt. Col West was a man who realized that he had seen more combat than any of the soldiers under his command. He had enough bad memories to last a lifetime, and perhaps he wanted to spare his soldiers the same. By discharging a pistol into a nearby sand bucket, he was simply making it clear that he was the one in control. In interrogation, that's a NON-VIOLENT means of obtaining information. If anything, it was a fucking reality check. The reality that no one in America's military that is trying to crucify West will accept, is that if Lt. Col West had discharged that pistol into the head of the man leading the assassination, no one would know. So he took the honorable route and got fucked. War really is hell. ] -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x06---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ RantRadio News Update ] [ Cimmerian ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x06 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- [ RantRadio is now THREE stations! ] - RantRadio Industrial - Industrial Electronica for your Mind! The station you've known and loved for 5 years is continuing it's reign as your favourite Industrial/EBM/Synthpop station. RR-Industrial will also soon to be expanding it's programming to blocked themes of styles so you can explore futher the multi-layered genres within this style of music. - RantRadio Punk - The Virtual Mosh Pit! We're opening our doors to the punk scene with the brand new RantRadio Punk station. All the best in Punk and Ska music will be heard 24/7 through RR-Punk. We look forward to your thoughts and comments on this new venture. - RantRadio Talk - Speak Your Mind! The great talk programming on RantRadio gets its own home with an all talk station. This will give the shows on RR-Talk more room to grow and allow for re-airing of the shows for people miss them the first time around. The expanded programming will also include the now classic Sean Kennedy Rants, classic RantRadio show rebroadcasts and also other great spoken word artists. [ RantTV is expanding it's programming! ] - Seattle Wireless TV Seattle Wireless TV has now joined the family of Rant! Seattle Wireless TV is a very well put together show and they already have 4 episodes you can watch right from their site. The hosts of the show are Peter Yorke and Michael Pierce and I extend a warm welcome to them from RantTV! - The Broken Kevin Rose's great new TV Show - The Broken will soon be in rotation on RantTV! We contacted Kevin and he was more than happy to get his great program aired on our Internet TV station. You can usually find Kevin on the TV Show Screen Savers on TechTV. The Broken has currently one episode, which you can download from The Broken website and is put out Bi-Monthly. Thanks Kevin! - The Sean Kennedy TV Show The Sean Kennedy Show has returned for a triumphant second season! We've trimmed the chaf and added our long time friend from the WhatTheHell?!? days, Unkle Dak. You can watch the show live 8PM PDT every Monday night. Come hear all the news they don't want you to here. - DJ Pulse A great EBM / Industrial audio and video DJ has joined our family on RantTV. You can catch him live on Thursday nights at 7PM PDT starting December 11, 2003. -------------------------------------------- Cimmerian - Man of Many Media Audio - www.rantradio.com Video - www.ranttv.com Projects - www.rantmedia.ca -------------------------------------------- -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x07---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ RANT: The Unholy Season ] [ alienbinary ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x07 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- It's only been ten days since October 31st, yet walking into a department store is like stepping into a mine-field. As if it wasn't bad enough having to dodge the mechanical reindeer, I have to duck under the waving hand of santa's elves, which, since they are short, happen to wave at about groin level, and on top of all that, there are the remains of several disemboweled goose-down pillows on the floor, in a really bad attempt at fake snow. I intended to start off and continue to rant about how much I hate the holiday season, but something far more pressing comes to mind. Exactly why is it important to turn every single place of commerce into a satellite chain of the hallmark santa clause empire? Why, exactly, can't I pick up a prescription without the pharmacist wearing a rudolph the red-nosed reindeer foam ball around his or her nose? It's really not necessary. I imagine that for someone trying to fill an order of some low level anti-psychotic or anti-anxiety agent, this might be very very intimidating. These poor people have enough trouble sorting fact from well, whatever goes on in their minds, and now they have to duck and weave through a twisted fantasy world superimposed upon the drugstore, so they can stay sane? That's impossible. There's no logic in this whatsoever. I honestly think that there is a time and a place for being festive-- primarily based on the idea that it's not anywhere near me-- and I don't think that a place of serious business, or a place where people go to get private things accomplished is one of these places. I'm trying to picture myself taking seriously any establishment where 'jingle bells' has usurped the usual doorbell knocker, and there are empty boxes in the middle of the lobby, wrapped in gold and red paper covered with white stuff. If it weren't any of the three most unholy and disturbing months of the year, this wouldn't be remotely acceptable. Yet somehow, we seem to forget that for the months of November, December and January, it's perfectly fine to tell little children that gravity doesn't apply to reindeer, and a fat man who's jolly enough can survive on the north pole. Actually, since we ARE on the subject of things we tell children this time of year, how come it's not acceptable on Halloween for kids to accept candy from strangers, yet they should aim to sit on the lap of some scary old dude with fake white hair? For chrissakes the warning signs are ALREADY THERE with the phony Santa Clause. To begin with, he's already assumed an alias, he's wearing a lot of makeup, a hefty disguise, and there's a vast network of these people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not down on store santa clauses, they're just people trying to make ends meet. But I do have trouble with this hypocrasy. So let's return to this business of how reality seems to go on vacation for three months a year, and no one but me finds this remarkeable. The truth is, every November, all reason and logic fly out the window. During this time period, it becomes suddenly important for people to clear out their bank accounts and pour the contents into the laps of various vendors. In return, the vendors give them things they can't even keep, but have to actually give to other people. To further strengthen my point, the majority of the time these things invariably find themselves to be gifts in the hands of some recipient who'll scratch their head and wonder "what the hell?" Only in December, towards the end of the month, do people suddenly see a novelty in buying (either for themselves or other people) engraved pocket knives, vibrating pen massagers, novelty sized altoids tins, light-up earrings, stuffed polar bears with fake bottles of coca-cola sewn to their paws, and aprons that say "kiss the cook." Only on January first does it make sense to purchase a large amount of alcohol, with the sole intention of regurgitating it all later after you've passed the three levels: unsteadiness, innebriation and completely beyond repair. The fourth level of alcohol intake is either called "having my stomach pumped" or "I can't remember if it tasted this bad on the way down." And before I finish trashing new years eve, let's not forget that half the world watches a tv screen every New Years Eve/January First to see a stupid ball on a stick covered in light bulbs drop about ten or fifteen feet in times square. I really will be impressed if someone can tell me of any other time of the year where this is considered anything but just plain bizarre. Now, I suppose some of you are wondering why I haven't attacked Hannukah or Kwanzaa. Well, I have to be honest. Those two holidays seem to keep the fuck out of my way. I have yet to be in a department store and get assailed by a clerk whose job it is to remind me that Kwanzaa is just around the corner, and wish me a happy harvest so that I might further patron their store. It just doesn't happen. -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x08---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Dissecting the Twenty Dollar Bill ] [ Turnspike ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x08 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- A Further Disection of the new $20 bill. By Turnspike There has been an absence of information about the new United States Twenty Dollar bill beyond the description released by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing itself. You can take a look at their website and see the list of security features that they reveal that is also synthesized and put out by every media outlet in the free world. http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/ I think it is also interesting that they have high quality, full-size images of the new twenty on their site...and they ENCOURAGE you to print them out. This almost seems to be a shot accross the bow to every kid who thinks they can continue to run copies on their laser printer and pass them off as real. I think this very fact shows that the Feds make the new Twenty using colors that cannot be reproduced using the CMYK process that most home and business printers use. Only by tweaking the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, or Black inks that your printers hold, can you hope to achieve these colors. Furthermore, you can forget about duplicating metalics with a CMYK printer. As an experienced printing press operator, I want to tell you what I have observed about the new twenty, starting with the new color scheme. The bill has 7 colors on the front and 4 colors on the back. Here is a list of the colors, in the order they were printed on the bill: Front Side: Light Blue - Background Eagle and "USA TWENTY" Light Green - Background concentric hexagon design Peach - Background concentric hexagon design Dark Green - Treasury seal, and serial number Black - Federal Reserve Seal, Portrait Metalic Gold - Eagle perched on shield Metalic Copper - "20" Lower right corner Back Side: Light Green - Background concentric hexagon design Peach - Background concentric hexagon design Golden Yellow - Scattered "20"s Dark Green - White House landscape I determined the order of colors based on common printing principals and observation on how the inks lay on top of each other, but I couldn't actually determine which metalic on the front was laid down first. There were no tell-tale signs. The metalic copper is color shifting, which means the hues change when viewed at different angles. I suspect this is done by printing the dark green under the metalic. When the light catches the metalic you see it's hues, when the light misses it you see more of the color underneath, so it appears more green. Other than this new color scheme, the new bill also features other security designs, some we have seen before, some new. Here's a list of the noticeable ones: The concentric hexagons in the background The blue background eagle The blue "Twenty USA USA Twenty" script behind the Treasury Department Seal The Watermark The micro-printed "The United States of America 20 USA 20 USA" between the bottom-left "20" and Jackson's shoulder The golden yellow "20"s scattered to the right and left of the White House on the back The diamond-shaped lattice pattern in the bottom-right "20" on the back The blue and red threads in the paper Two textured, grooved patches on the bottom center of the back The security strip embedded in the paper Even with this impressive list of features, counterfeiting is inevitable. New fake Twentys have already been passed to unsuspecting retailers who had no idea what the new bills were supposed to look like. And even when the public wised up to these new features, conterfeiting has become sophisticated enough to duplicate most of them, and how many features will still be noticable when the new Twentys have been in circulation for a year or two anyway? The limited experience I have had spotting counterfeit bills were fakes that had been purposely worn to gain credibility. So,the Treasury Department is like the MPAA in that they are spending millions to beat a counterfeiting problem that will be defeated shortly anyway. But according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing's own figures, only .01% to .02% of all bills in circulation are counterfeit. So is it really worth all the millions to develop this new bill and and then spend an estimated 32 million dollars to advertise it? How much is your money worth to you? -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x09---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Computer Security and the cgi-bin ] [ alienbinary ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x09 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- Before I go on, I should like to make it clear that I write this not as a tutorial, but a commentary that people in the field of ComSec really should heed. I find it more than a little frightening that major systems are running millions of dollars worth of security software, yet a kid who has the intelligence required to assemble a jigsaw puzzle can walk in the front door of an allegedly secure system, right through something as basic as a search engine. The attitude seems that most people would rather be locked out of their own computers than let anyone else in. [ ed. note: yes, I find this to be odd, too. - alienb ] It seems that the first thing every company, every home and every small business wants to know first is how tight the security is. Don't get me wrong, I'm a freelance technician. My bread and butter, or rather, what keeps me from starving, is the fact that people occassionally hire me to audit their company's network, and give a report on my findings to the IT department. However, there comes a time when you have to wonder just what the hell is going through the minds of these same executives, when certain holes don't get patched, but seem to exponentially get more volatile through under-educated administrators. So what does this have to do with search engines and cgi-bins? Well, if we consider the supposition that all computer security 'experts' are clamping down tighter and tighter, we should wonder why some of the oldest "tricks-in-the-book" haven't been dealt with. The dark truth about the cgi-bin in relation to search engines, is that they seem to go into every aspect of every server connected to the internet. I know, that's the JOB of a spider-bot, but it seems peculiar that it hasn't been addressed what the bot should never, ever catalog. Anyone familiar with any filesystem can write out a path to a certain file. This is how you navigate from point a to point b in the command line. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, for whatever reason, I'll illustrate using my laptop. [localhost:~] alienb% cd ~/desktop [localhost:~/desktop] alienb% ls -las total 568 0 drwx------ 8 alienb staff 264 Nov 13 21:58 . 0 drwxr-xr-x 131 alienb staff 4410 Nov 13 21:59 .. 72 -rw-rw-rw- 1 alienb staff 33796 Nov 13 21:58 .DS_Store 384 -rw-rw-rw- 1 alienb staff 196608 Sep 27 18:10 .FBCIndex 0 drwxrwxrwx 3 alienb staff 264 Sep 27 18:10 .FBCLockFolder 112 -rw-r--r-- 1 alienb staff 0 Aug 31 2002 Icon? 0 drwxr-xr-x 93 alienb staff 3118 Nov 12 17:03 docs 0 drwxr-xr-x 24 alienb staff 772 Nov 13 19:58 downloads [localhost:~/desktop] alienb% There. I've just gone from point a to point b via the command line in FreeBSD. Point a was "~/", which indicates home/root (my starting point), and the desktop folder. [ Note: those of you curious, I'm using XDarwin. ] Now, understand that the command "cd" means change directory. That command is stored in /bin. On a webserver, the same concept applies, but there's another folder, /cgi-bin. The cgi-bin is an incredibly important part of a webserver. In order to execute most remote commands, system administrators use pipelines in Perl to accomplish important tasks. There's a problem, however, when people forget that the cgi-bin has a command line too. Still not convinced? Look at your URL menu. If you log into google, and do a search, you'll notice that the path to the destination page is actually the result of a script. The most basic example is "www.google.com/query?=", followed by delineaters telling the host whether safe mode is off, and what language to find results in. This being considered, everyone should now know where I'm going with this. Because every cgi-bin action can create a temp file on a server, and because search engines still have not written safeguards against cataloguing these files, it is actually possible to search for these results. So what, big deal, right? Wrong. As a matter of fact, restricted-access programs can be abused, by knowing the syntax. Therefore, if a server is running a CGI (common gateway interface) phonebook program, as many organizations provide to help serve the staff of a facility, it is possible to access these records just by typing { /cgi-bin/phone.pl?=xxx } into the search field of any major search engine. Being a strong beleiver in security and privacy, I was extroardinarily upset to find how easy it was to access this information. It's not only unnecessary to post this info on the net, but it's outright negligance to not take proper actions to prevent outside users from accessing secure documents. In case you haven't made the connection from my example of navigating the command line, and navigating the cgi-bin, let me explain. Entering a URL (Universal Resource Locator) into the address bar, and hitting "go," or whatever it is that your browser has, you are sending a command to the internic, requesting access to a web page. A web page is simply a file on a computer, nothing more, really. In this sense, instead of saying "cd ~/www/," an outside attacker can just form the URL as a request, locating the file or directory specified. Notice that the path of the phone.pl program and the desktop or www folder isn't formed much differently? That's because in essence, you're opening a directory, listing it, and parsing the contents, the way one does when they navigate the command line in UNIX. So, are we screwed, or can we fix this? Then, why, have we, as security professionals, not plugged this hole? To tell you the truth, I have no idea. What I can say, is that it's important for people to be aware that no matter how much you restrict access to your server, something as harmless as a spider-bot can accidentally open you up to attack. The truth is, there is no 100 percent secure system, except the one that's still in a box, far from a power supply, a means of connecting to a phone line, and locked in a safe with the key permanently glued inside the unlock mechanism. This, obviously, is a hideous waste of a machine, and is, in itself, a stupid notion. If you intend to do what I just illustrated, then save yourself money and don't buy the computer in the first place. We can, however solve these problems, or try to, and that's the purpose of this article: to expose the fact that nothing has changed despite ongoing concerns, and to help administrators better secure their servers, so that this sort of exploit can be avoided. First of all, everyone should be aware of the robots.txt file, located either in the root directory of the webserver: (ie: "~/www/robots.txt"), or in the webserver's public_html folder. (ie: "~/apache/public_html/robots.txt".) [ editor's note: these paths will vary completely from system to system, these are just references. ] By creating this file, you can delineate what is to NOT allowed to be catalogued by a search engine's spider bot. Another thing that's important to note, is that default installations of things like forums and message boards can leave you vulnerable. For chrissakes, if you're using Hypermart's WWWBoard software, don't make the path "www.yoursite.com/wwwboard/." Have some common sense. Because the world wide web is a listing of directories as much as it's an interface that parses HTML, it's incredibly easy for an outsider to simply drop into the default directory, because they know where to look. Try naming the messageboard, and instead of using passwd.txt, be creative. Use a random name that simple exploit scanners will not search for. It all boils down to not being half-assed. If you're going to set up a webserver, and you intend to keep it secure, don't let things slide. Read the source code, and look up advisories relating to any software packages before you install them; otherwise, you're not doing your job as an admin, and if you find yourself in a jam because of your own laziness somewhere down the line, you will have no one to blame but yourself. references: 1. The Computer Emergency Response Team, Carnegie Mellon University http://search.cert.org/query.html?rq=0&ht=0&qp=&qs=&qc=&pw=100%25&ws=1&la=&qm=0 &st=1&nh=25&lk=1&rf=2&oq=&rq=0&si=1&col=xtracert&col=trandedu&col=vulnotes&col= techtips&col=research&col=certadv&col=incnotes&col=secimp&qt=search+engines 2. Apache.org Open Source Webserver Documentation, On robots.txt files http://httpd.apache.org/docs/misc/howto.html 3. CGI Security dot com, "Search Engines: the ignored threat" http://www.cgisecurity.com/lib/search_engines.htm 4. SecuriTeam.com, Hyperseek 2000 Search Engine Vulnerability Adisory http://www.securiteam.com/securitynews/5WP0E1F3FU.html ???????----------PA1Nv5x10----------------------------------------------------- [ Best of RantRadio IRC, November] [ Rantradio IRC ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x10 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- The award for the single most bizarre thing I've ever seen after only ten seconds of being logged into the IRC: once you get the hang of it, cutting fruit up with a large knife is rather fun -------------------------------------------------- one liners ----------------- wait... something smells like onions... and it's not my nuts ------ brainstorming --------------------------------- ( for slogans ) -------- What do people think of: RantRadio Punk - The Virtual Mosh Pit RantRadio Talk - Speak Your Mind Why not RantRadio Punk: Your MallCore Sucks. RantRadio Talk: Hit you in the face with a shovel! rantradio punk hang yourself from the tree RantRadio Punk : Because you'll run out of blood eventaully rantradio punk. chloroform the dog RantRadio Punk: Fuck you, You Uppity Fuckin' Fuck. RR Punk: "Meat isn't murder, it's delicious." - Johnny Rotten -------------------------------------------- This is just CRUEL... ------------ one of my guy friends sent me a pic of his dick for fun, and so i sent it to his sister without telling her who's dick it was and she was like, mmm that's one big juicy cock and then i TOLD her HAHAHAHAH *Asylumboy inhales deeply ------------------------- learn oriental philosophy fast! --------------------- its a zen type question, no real answer *SignOff spliff: #rantradio (Read error: Connection reset by peer) ahh ic *spliff [~timmy@anon-362444.ip.alltel.net] has joined #rantradio *mode/#rantradio [+v spliff] by Cow kinda like what is the sound of one hand clapping? yes to me the sound of one hand clapping sounds like WHIFFFF lol okay, now i'm bored go here : http://www.somethingawful.com/ IRC Quote submitted by Manuel O'Kelly ----------------------------------------- http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/02/Opinion/Police_overreaction.shtml niacin, your our man in the miami streets, why did you report the recent riots? i just found out about this this crap is getting insane the only reason I knew is because I know five people who pretty much boarded the hippie bus and went about two weeks ago the media made very little coverage of it grrr, im about to go spastic here fucking country yeah, remember when Sean was asking why Americans don't riot? well its not about whats in the water, its about whats going over the air waves * maliciouskitten sighs seriously yeah ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x11---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Let's Play Oligopoly ] [ Manuel O'Kelly ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x11 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- aka: Fuck the **AA Well if anyone has ever listened to my Associations rant (one of only two, lazy bastard) they will know that I think that the business associations of today are nothing more then a way for corporations to get together and create business trust like policy and price control. I am not the only one, considering the RIAA and MPAA have both been threatened with anti-trust suits. Associations also serve other interests, like pooling money for defensive and offensive lawsuits (think little twelve year olds), lobbying (lots of money here), and those wonderful copyright.org commercials you see at the movie theaters and on TV. So if this wasn't enough, now, they wish to have legislation passed that will hamper the ability of the people to bring anti-trust lawsuits against them, since they could not form a monopoly... right. So lets jump to the future, if you now get sued you can not oppose them. You can not bring up the fact that they are forcing you to buy their product at their price, and you will not be able to bring cases against them even if they use the association to fix the price. Recent lawsuits have been brought against the RIAA by webcasters who want to stream music on the internet, in this future they will not be able to. There is another word for these "associations" that have developed, economists know them as: n. pl. oligopolies A market condition in which sellers are so few that the actions of any one of them will materially affect price and have a measurable impact on competitors. [oligo- + (mono)poly.]oligopolistic (-lstk) adj. So by using this definition, from dictionary.com, we realize that if an association is formed between these few firms, the actions could possibly be planned for the benefit of all members. More specifically by acting together they would eliminate competition between themselves forming a monopoly, or more specifically a collusive oligopoly. Competition from outside of the association does not benefit from the pooled resources and insider deals, and is quickly dispatched. Several entities in the market act as one which makes anti-trust suits difficult to prove. Unless someone looks deeply at the transactions they only see the outer look and feel of a market in competition. The question here is how much organization does it take to create an oligopoly monopoly? Traditionally the oligopoly was a transitional phase of the largest companies in the market before they bought out or crushed the competition and became a full fledged monopoly. By having such large assets at their disposal this firm could affect competitors simply by lowering the price by pennies, thus driving the competition into a price war that would put them below the marginal cost of production (where profits are made or lost). Anti-trust laws were designed to counteract this dark side of capitalism. So long as no one could take a large percentage of the market without being broken up into smaller companies, competition kept prices at their optimized levels. It turns out that weaker but still affective monopolies can be created by industries who work together to: 1. Establish a systematic way of behavior which is also partly encouraged by economics. 2. A single source for lobbyist actions, which are paid for by donations from the individual companies. 3. Working together to fund precedence setting court cases that further their goals, like the one that 'the register' has pointed out so well. The anti-trust laws make any form of collaboration between companies illegal but their evolutionary affects only created a new way to further monopolistic goals. Although the association system is loose it still serves the purpose of unified action. When this unified action is combined with the money and political clout that can be generated by these corporations few political institutions can compete, and others are just simply overrun. Sites like the oligopolywatch.org monitor suspicious economic and political actions by the largest companies in markets who use their bulk to their advantage. What should be even more alarming is that even though the Associations are legally stable, the corporations within them continue to merge. It is unlikely that these mergers will capture the market as a traditional monopoly would, but it still shows that the association will only maintain the bare minimum of members it needs to stay under the the radar of anti-trust legislation. This means that it is now more important then ever to break up the five or six that generally tend to exist in each organization. Taking such action would set ground breaking cases setting precedence for how many companies it is comfortable to keep in a market and why. For instance say in the utilities markets, it is fairly unrealistic to have too many companies, houses only have one set of lines running to them after all. Within the recording industry it is best to have large amounts of competition to keep the marginal cost of production equal to the marginal revenue. The trick is to do this in such a way that maintains a markets ability for free entrance and exit of firms. Unless more firms are allowed to enter the market to compete in traditional and innovative ways the extensive number of artists that wish to record and distribute their work will still have to flow through the narrows of the RIAA. -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x12---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Personal Responsibility ] [ alienbinary ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x12 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- Two teenagers were arrested for attempting to hijack a car, when police prompted them for a motive, they responded that they were reenacting a scene from the game "Grand Theft Auto." As per usual, right wing conservatives popped out of the woodwork to condemn the game, and, some people even voiced a desire for the acquittal of the kids. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the TV news show images of carjackings every single night? Are we inclined to believe that the news media is to be held responsible for the very stories they report? What about 'the Matrix', and all the subsequent attempts by defense attorneys to get their clients acquitted on the basis that they were too heavily influenced by the massive violence shown in the movie? Well, I'm pretty sure that it's the job of parents and teachers to help children separate fact from fiction. It should be about as taxing on the human brain to determine whether what occurs on-screen is acceptable in off-screen behavior as it is to play a game of tic-tac-toe; and I mean without effort. The rational part of our minds should tell us that if in everyday life, you run into remarkably few 20 mm cannons, yet when you watch television, you see large amounts of heavy hardware, that it's an on-screen element only. According to people like Tipper Gore, the PMRC, and other christian supremacy groups, children have become drastically stupider since when I was a little kid. I say this, because if I had shot someone when I was ten years old, I would have gone straight to jail, assuming the death penalty wasn't active. No one would have held a vigil for me, no one would have tried to lay the blame on my cartoons or super mario brothers, not a damn thing. Instead, I would have been locked up for the rest of my natural life. Nowadays, a ten year old kid can open fire on a dense crowd with an automatic weapon, and the first person everyone wants to blame is Marilyn Manson. Now, I have a remarkably different take on these things. If a kid is capable enough to strip and assemble a Tec-9, semiautomatic assault rifle, correctly load the 30 round clip, and dispatch several random people, it's my opinion, admittedly I'm no expert, that he has a rather high faculty for constructing elaborate concepts. I mean, for that matter, how many adults can use a Tec-9? I can't. I've never had reason to, nor would I know how to get the damn safety off. This being the case, I surmise that if the child can use the gun, he can use his brain just as well. Simply put, let's hear it for personal responsibility. What about the golden rule? If you don't want to get shot, then don't shoot your friend. Besides, if they took 'the Matrix' so seriously, kids wouldn't dress so poorly these days. Then of course, we have loud, angry rock music. First of all, the body count per hard rock song, with the exception of Drowning Pool and Biohazard is a lot lower than the same count in mainstream rap. In fact, how many people are aware that the reason baggy clothes became so popular was because of a trend that began in prison? When your clothes are baggy, you can hide weapons much easier. So by that logic, we would have to blame Snoop Dogg for the majority of concealed weapons, as this sort of clothing was trademark for him. At the same time, I think rap is just as innocent. If we try to blame music, at least, a genre of music, I would blame Gospel and Country. Nothing is more apocalyptic and depressing as a really emotional church revival song. When everyone is focused on the war of good and evil, it seems only sensible to arm yourself and rid the world of those who are considered evil. So where would someone get the list of qualities needed for judging evil? Don't worry, thankfully, gospel music has been able to tell us who's going to hell-- already. Think about it. It's got to be a lot easier to be a righteous soldier of Christ when you have a checklist for qualified sinners. And why do I mention country music? There's a pretty solid belief that you can dissect every country song and come out with three major components. One, you find that the narrator lost his truck, two, his dog, three, his wife; in fact, that's the punch line of an old joke about country music. In my opinion, if I had to listen to music that spoke exclusively about losing people, I'd probably give up on trying to make friends altogether. Wait, no, I wouldn't. You know why? Because I believe that music is just music. Art is NOT something that should be used to dictate your life, but to influence you. The only reason music would ever be the cause of violence is because of how terrible the majority of music has become. Several times a week, I find myself violently angry because I walk into the radio station where I work and I hear those utter morons in 'Good Charlotte' whining about stupid things I just don't care about. I hate them. I won't even apologize if you're a fan. Personally, I think that being a fan of Good Charlotte might be the first sign of a major problem, but I digress. So what's left to blame? Absolutely nothing. So what do we do? Start owning up to the things you do. Neo did NOT make Eric Harris or Dylan Kleibold assemble pipebombs and shoot up their school, 'Don't be a Menace...' is NOT responsible for drug abuse, and for the love of god, how do you justify kaszinski. This guy didn't even own a television. So, in closing, I'll leave it at this: if you're an idiot, and you act like one, expect to be treated like one. -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x13---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Kill your Television ] [ alienbinary ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x13 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- Since the beginning of mainstream television broadcasting there has been a gradual decline in the health and well being of Americans in general. According to a study done by Psychophysiologist Thomas Mulholland of Stony Brook University, reiterated in an article found on Disinfo.org, after only 30 seconds of television viewing, the brain produces what are called alpha waves. In case youre wondering what Alpha Waves are, as I was when I found this statistic, alpha waves are produced by the brain when your brain is unfocused, unconscious and at its most receptive. To put this another way, after 30 seconds of viewing the television screen, the average human being falls into a completely hypnotic state, in which its possible to suggest behaviors and attitudes. How it works: A Cathode Ray Tube, or CRT screen projects images at a very fast rate, giving the brain the illusion of a fluid picture. In fact, the screen is flickering incredibly fast. The flickering triggers a mechanism in the brain that produces alpha waves, increasing your receptiveness. Think about how often you drive by billboards advertising the Big Mac, and the number of times that such advertisements have actually made you pull into the nearest fast food restaurant and buy a cheeseburger. Now consider the number of times you've been watching television, and the thought I should go to McDonalds has surfaced in your mind. When the brain is in an overly receptive state, even the simplest advertisements can manipulate you into doing whatever the intention of the advertiser is. In this case, to buy and consume fast food. Since the rate of television viewing increases every year, the number of advertisements must also increase. In fact, the average American child views 20,000 advertisements a year. The correlation is relatively obvious. If 20,000 commercials are viewed by a person every year, and those commercials are viewed in a state similar to a coma, in which any action can be suggested... imagine how many people bought Big Macs or Whoppers in the middle of the night, not entirely knowing why. To make matters much worse, Americans arent simply getting more obese, theyre getting more obese and being told to feel bad about it. When you put the issue like that, it's a really sick situation, don't you think? Try and count on your fingers the number of overweight people on television that were portrayed as sexy or chic. The numbers are relatively slim. Relative, that is, to the number of women shown in various dangerously heightened states of eating disorders, who are portrayed as sexy and hip. I encourage everyone to get more excercise and to consume less junk food, but the way to convince people, in my opinion, should not involve making life-threatening eating disorders look sexy. A Washington Post Poll, October 12, 1995 determined a set of statistics that I find alarming. According to the Post, while 59 percent of Americans can name the three stooges, only 17 percent can name at least three Supreme Court justices. Now, thats really odd, because there are more possible answers for the latter statistic. In fact, that statistic doesnt even require the Justices to be current. In the past year, several cases have been covered by the supreme court that have re-defined our Constitution, namely; same-sex marriage, search and seizure, and several cases defining the role of the President of the United States of America. There isnt anyone in this room who hasnt felt the impact of at least one of those issues, but the majority of us, myself included, werent even alive for the three stooges. As television and mass media continue to dominate our mental landscapes, we become the containers for useless information, so much such information, that we cant remember the important things we shouldnt forget. Ill admit, I can tell you the number of seasons that total the span of the "X-Files," I can name almost every member of the cast of the Simpsons, I can even tell you which supermodel is signed with which soft drink commercial. I can do all of this, but I honestly have trouble remembering my social security number. Perhaps there are worse things I could forget. After all, social security will likely dry up by the time I qualify for it. Anyway, let me offer another statistic. In the last year, I've read approximately 14,000 pages from books I read for pleasure. This is almost as impressive as the number of television commercials viewed by the average American child: 20,000. I'll offer one more ratio for you to think about before moving on: The ratio of daily video rentals to public library items checked out is 2:1. Every day, its estimated by the TV-Turnoff Network, 6 million videos are rented, but only 3 million items are checked out of a library. Not only does this attest to how much we watch movies and how little time we spend reading, but to our financial stupidity as well. The majority of library cards are completely free of charge, provided by the state and federal government, however, each rental of a video can cost from 3-5 dollars. That means that a potential 30,000,000 dollars a day is siphoned from the American populace, if for no other reason than they dont see a novelty in reading anymore. So what do we do? What can be done? Simple. Get a hammer and exact some justice on your own terms. That TV set has had it coming for a long time. Note: when smashing a CRT screen, it can discharge huge amounts of electricity. Consider shooting the set from a distance, just for safety reasons. 1. Disinformation Archives, [ available online: http://www.disinfo.org/ ] 2. Wes Moore, "Television: Opiate of the Masses," [ available online: http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id1149/pg2/ ] 3. Psychphysiologist Thomas Mulholland, Stony Brook University 4. The TV Turnoff Network, [ available online: http://www.tvturnoff.org/ ] 5. More Reading, Less TV, [ available online: http://www.tvfa.org/reading.htm ] -----------?----------??????????????-?????---------------????????????---------- PA1Nv5x14---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Outro ] [ alienbinary ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------PA1Nv5x14 -?------------?---???????---???---?????????????--------------????????---------- -------------------------------------------------------------- "...This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants... read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem..." -- Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of Grass -------------------------------------------------------------- So now you have it. PA1N Magazine, Volume Five. Face the reality that we're here to stay, to say what we feel, to voice our opinions, and to be heard. The people that allow themselves to be silenced are the people that allow themselves to be gagged. Those who don't see the hand closing in to cup over their mouths. We're a group of misfits, outlaws, activists, hackers, deckers; you name a particular counterculture, PA1N probably has it's foot in there somewhere. I didn't spread this or promote it, it propagated on it's own. There's an important lesson in that, one that people have to recognize. The lesson is that when you're telling the truth, good people will step aside to hear what you have to say. As usual, I have things lined up for future issues, ideas and projects rolling around in my head, but these will take time. Currently, people are working on assembling photo montages for project loki. I go on long subway rides and walks through the city to find graffiti that's intriguing and worthy of note. I'm always on alert for something that needs to be said, but hasn't. This magazine was born out of an idea, a concept that I wasn't sure would ever make it to realization, but here I am, writing the conclusion to the fifth issue. As I wrap up this fifth volume, I want to thank every single person who has contributed, given feedback, or done anything to help with this project. It's because of people like them, that I don't intend to stop putting out PA1N Magazine, even if some issues take longer than others... :D I encourage everyone to start taking control of their own lives, to start cutting down on the mass media bullshit that they're fed day in and day out, and to start thinking for themselves. alienbinary, editor in chief