SOPA and PIPA

Instead of doing my regular thing, I want to talk very briefly about bad legislation. I don't normally like to talk politics. I'm rather cynical about the whole thing, in general and I have somewhat libertarian views.  Still I normally avoid talking politics because I get so frustrated at the rampant corruption that anymore is inherit in the system, and the even worse partisanship that prevents so many people from realizing how stupid they are for supporting one candidate or the other because of a letter attached to their name (D or R). But I digress...


Currently going on is some legislation so abhorrent I am breaking my normal "no politics" rule. I really would like to rant about it for a bit, but there's not much I could bring to the table that others haven't already said and far more coherently than I could. So I will content myself with this: Even during the best, most idealistic times in our (or any) government, there have always been people who sought out power so they could grant themselves more. Anymore, you'd be hard-pressed to find a single government official I wouldn't say is exactly that. As a semi-libertarian, I feel that many, if not most, laws are nothing more than a way to give someone power at the expense of personal liberties. But I usually bend over and take it because it's so gradual and I don't have the time to run for office myself and naively try to change things for the better before becoming corrupt and end up being the very thing that I was fighting against.
But this... this is such an obvious, egregious, insulting power grab for so little profit that will not only hurt the people of the United States, but will have far-reaching influence on the entire world, for the worse, that it's beyond a joke. It's like, Joker territory. I would laugh if I weren't crying.
Anyway, I haven't said what it is yet, but I'll just end up not describing it as well as I should. Instead, I'll just post some links that you should go to and read/watch what they have to say. I beg of you to do this, and then do all in your power to fight this. If you're American: sign petitions, and try to contact your representatives personally. If you're not American, sign petitions, and encourage any American friends you have to fight this bill. Most of the sponsors might be getting paid quite a lot of money to sponsor the bill, but trust me, most of them still want to get re-elected, and will bend under enough pressure. So, please, let's put the pressure on them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-inventors-warn-against-sopa-and-pipa
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111122/04254316872/definitive-post-why-sopa-protect-ip-are-bad-bad-ideas.shtml
http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/12/16/dear-congress-it-s-no-longer-ok-to-not-know-how-the-internet-works


Bottom Line: These are just a bare few articles explaining how bad this bill is. Please, educate yourself a little bit about SOPA and PIPA and then do everything you can to take them down.
Thank you.

(Picture shamelessly stolen from schlockmercenary.com )