Category: free speech

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bloggers to be censored?

only $ 19.95 for a genuine vial of STARDUST!
only $ 19.95 for a genuine vial of STARDUST!

It’s always a bit disturbing when any government steps in to regulate an area that previously remained free.

Oh, I know there have been patent medicine salesman selling fraudulent cures, but they have been with us like ‘Jacek’ in a Stargate episode selling fake “stardust” on the net, forever. However, I do wonder, why our government is so interested in protecting us now? Why do they really want to be involved in regulating what is said on the internet? Hmmmm , I wonder, did I answer my own question?

A disturbing first ‘toe in the water’ appeared in Advertising Age with the FTC showing interest in bloggers and their evaluations of consumer products. The FTC wants to protect us by holding certain bloggers liable for their opinions…. ok, this is interesting … where is this going? … and do we really need this?

Although you may not be selling anything more than your ideas, this is something worth keeping an eye on. After all, one loses one’s freedom easiest a piece at a time.

Roger Freberg

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CNN, Lou Dobbs and Cal Poly

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Thgt7dEVw[/youtube]

Well, I don’t know how many times Lou Dobbs ‘called out’ the aging President of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo … but it wasn’t pretty.

I’d like to say that Cal Poly doesn’t deserve it, but you can’t help to wonder how many times Cal Poly has to screw up before they finally put the old guy out to pasture and find some reality based thinkers to run the organization rather than a group of ideologues.

I don’t know about you, but in these tough times, most of us want to see our public institutions perform. BTW,  if I were a student, I’d be asking Cal Poly,” Is there a prize for playing this game?”

Roger Freberg

Look for this blog on Yahoo!

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You bet your blog

00googlebetyourfreedom2

Let me throw this question out for you. If you wanted to control the internet, what would be the easiest way? Well, I’d want to control the search engines. Because, if you can’t find differing points of view… then they don’t exist!

There is even a Wikipedia post on Google Censorship. However, it says nothing about how Google censors in America… which is disturbing.

In Google’s defense, they just say that they are complying with all laws. There is a lot of history that supports this approach. However, this ‘just following orders, Sir’ excuse has been the cause for much suffering in the world… ask  Milgram.

I dare say you won’t find this post on the Google search engine… how is it they say? Oh yes, they won’t divulge how they search ( and censor) as that is part of the super secret business model.

In the meantime… I’ll just use Yahoo.

Roger Freberg

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what is there to be thankful for?

be thnakful and change or world for the better!

Researchers have found that people are happier who do not watch T.V. I would add to that list one more item: newspapers.

In today’s local Tribune appeared a column by a curmudgeon columnist Lon Allan apparently reveling in his own cheapness. If that we’re enough, he looked on rather dispassionately towards his daughter who just lost both her home and her job. Apparently, he felt she deserved it. He came from that generation that had a lot, graduated high school in the 50’s, walked into good jobs and never, never had much stress into their lives until their children raised on ‘unconditional love’ and a parental neglect then came along to haunt them in the 60’s. I know so many of these folks who are more concerned about the price of gas on the Winnebago and the drop in their investments than their grand kid on drugs.

So what is there to be thankful for, Lon?  Here are a few thoughts on making your life and the lives of others better:

1) YOU CAN STILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE in your life and the lives of others for the better. It’s easy to believe that as one individual among millions that your voice will not be heard, but you can. And even if you don’t make a dent on the national level, you can make a giant positive change at home, if you work at it. Believe this and it will become so.
2) LOVE IS NOT BLIND, nor is it deft. Mean what you say, and say what you mean. Families that are open and honest with each other are happier and carry less baggage. It won’t prevent hard feelings, but then everyone knows where everyone stands. Life then can go on.

3) EVERYONE NEEDS A LEG UP. Sir Isaac Newton made this famous thought commonplace:  “If I can see further than anyone else, it is only because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.” Few people go very far without support and mentors. If you support and mentor someone, it can change your world and theirs. It’s not a handout that people really need, it’s a leg up.

4) NURTURING COURAGE in someone today is helping them overcome future obstacles tomorrow. Famous turn-of-the-century Psychologist William James addressed the philosophical question: does the bear make me afraid or am I afraid when I see a bear? Professor James said that we are either afraid or we are not, implying that it is our reaction or control of ourselves that makes all the difference. As Mark Twain once wrote,”Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear–not absence of fear.”

So, work for a positive influence and change in your life and the lives of those you love, help those you can and be thankful for the bounty and the miracles you have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Roger Freberg

I look above to the picture from Evan Maloney’s documentary “Indoctrinate U.”  As for me, I am truly thankful that I am not that chubby anymore!