Free Republic

ahknight writes: "The United States Copyright office begins its required review of the effects of the anti-circumvention portions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act on November 2nd. This review period lasts until December 1, 2005. They will be accepting your well-thought-out opinions on the web and by mail. If you're reasonably ticked that you can't legally get around encrypted files to get at the media you've bought, start writing a coherent stance for the USCO today."

I was thinking about this before I saw the Fox News pictures of the downed Coast Guard Chopper (THANKFULLY THE CREW IS ALIVE, AND HOPEFULLY WELL) , but that only cemented my resolve to post this vanity. I live in a land locked state, although I did spend a few years in Florida and made a few trips out into the Gulf and Atlantic. But regardless of my current geographic location, I just wanted to extend my hearty thanks to The United States Coast Guard. Even here in Indiana your presence is felt; for evey watercraft I've ever been on...

Got this in an e-mail from a friend and had to share it. It's short, but oh so sweet. clicky the linky NOTE: Requires Quicktime.

per Fox NEWS

<p>Spain's post-attack election of a new socialist government represents a stunning victory for Arab/Islamic terrorism. Although it is not hard to understand that country's immense sorrow over the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, ousting a prime minister for siding with the United States in Iraq was assuredly the wrong answer.</p>

Analysts and industry experts comment on Novell's $210m acquisition of SuSE Linux Novell's agreement to acquire SuSE Linux for $210m is good news for the Linux community and shows that the firm is unconcerned about the fear, uncertainty and doubt surrounding Linux following SCO Group's legal action against IBM. And IBM's investment of $50m in Novell as part of the deal has meant that the distribution and support gap which SCO left in the United Linux consortium has been plugged. "This really is very, very good news for Linux," Gary Barnett, principal analyst at Ovum, told vnunet.com. "It's a very...

Letter of thanks 'Your sacrifice will not be forgotten,' says soldier's mom Last week, Post-Tribune reporter Steve Patterson invited Leslie Sanders, mother of Army Spc. Greg Sanders, to write an open letter to Northwest Indiana, expressing, in her own words, the gratitude she has felt from the outpouring of support from our community since her 19-year-old son was killed in Iraq. Saturday, Leslie finished that letter and today, we present it, in its entirety: Like most families who suffer a loss, word spreads quickly. Family and friends arrive to extend their sympathies, share a tear and bring food. We began...

<p>Our position is: Americans can thank this Hungarian immigrant for helping them appreciate his adopted land.</p> <p>Balint Vazsonyi had a remarkable perspective on what makes America tick, and he spent much of his life helping others to see and appreciate the adopted country he loved.</p>

<p>Allowing the National Rifle Association to dictate Justice Department policy on firearms could be lethal. But apparently that hasn't stopped Attorney General John Ashcroft from being the stenographer for America's gun lobby.</p> <p>In two Justice Department briefs submitted to the Supreme Court in May, Ashcroft argued the NRA position that the right of individual gun ownership is sacred. His position runs contrary to virtually every court decision ever rendered on the Second Amendment, including every controlling Supreme Court decision.</p>

The Tunney Act, A confession of shame, and a call to action The Tunney Act: A confession of shame, and a call to action Introduction My name is Jeremy White, and I am the CEO of CodeWeavers, the company most associated with the Wine project. Three years ago, I chose to refocus my company around the Wine project because I believed that Microsoft's stranglehold on the market was sucking all of the joy out of the computing field. For those of you who don't know, Wine is a project that makes it possible to run Windows application on Linux. If ...

Microsoft Investigates Alleged Flaw in Browser Experts say standard security rule ignored By JAIKUMAR VIJAYAN (January 14, 2002) Microsoft Corp. is investigating an alleged flaw in recent versions of its Internet Explorer (IE) browser software that could allow attackers to spoof legitimate Web sites, steal content from browser cookies and gain access to certain types of files on a victim's system. The alleged flaw, which affects IE Versions 5.5 to 6, was first reported to the company on Dec. 19 by an independent security researcher who refers to himself as ThePull. The vulnerability is the result of Microsoft's failure ...

Tired of doing Windows? Well, there might be no better time than now to consider a pure Linux environment. The flat economy, rising software costs, shrinking technology budgets, and Microsoft's licensing and pricing gambles with Windows XP and .Net services have many SMB customers clamoring to solution providers for inexpensive alternatives. Although Linux's corporate inroads have primarily been on the server front and questions remain about the profitability of a Linux-powered desktop, a select few solution providers are already closing deals and reaping rewards from selling Linux-based solutions. To get a firsthand look at the viability of a "Windows-free" ...

A punitive puppeteer? NOW THAT WE know Microsoft is going to remain one company, it seems an appropriate time to step back and take a look at the company's recent practices and what they tell us we can expect in the future. Readers have had a wide variety of complaints about Microsoft on the Gripe Line during the last year or so. We've seen the Redmond giant quietly start forcing large OEMs to provide only recovery CDs for Windows, eliminate much of the free support it had provided for applications, invoke its license terms to keep an independent lab ...

** Microsoft Trolls For Informants ** Microsoft is coming under fire for a new program that promises prizes to computer-system builders who report customers ordering PCs without a pre-installed operating system. Microsoft unveiled the program in an E-mail apparently sent last week to system builders on the West Coast. The E-mail explains that the program is meant to insure compliance with software-licensing agreements. "Many organizations that are sending out bids believe that because they have enrolled in a Microsoft volume-license program... that operating systems for newly-acquired PCs are automatically enrolled," it reads. "There is no volume-licensing program at Microsoft that ...

Something to be said for U.S. disunity Commentary by Andrea Neal Indianapolis Star December 14, 2000 The circumstances surrounding George W. Bush's election as president will prompt calls for unity, for compromise, for finding common ground. Let's not bother. Unity is highly overrated as a national value. Instead, Election 2000's lesson is that Americans should abandon the search for national unity on the issues that deeply divide us and settle for what some have called "cultural federalism." In a nutshell: Let liberals believe what they believe and live in the big cities and on the coasts. Let conservatives believe ...

Al's life: The great adventure Commentary by Tim Swarens Indianapolis Star September 29, 2000 I was born in the log cabin that my father built deep in the backwoods of Tennessee. My earliest memory is of my mother singing. "Look for the union label. When you are buying a coat, dress or blouse." We were farmers in those days. Once I wandered into my daddy's fields and began pulling up tobacco plants. When my father learned about this, he asked me, "Al, do you know who pulled up my plants?'' "Father,'' I said, "I cannot tell a lie. I ...

Should offenses motivated by race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation be made federal crimes? Yes, we need such 'hate crimes' No, existing statutes are adequate.

Sons of the Middle Border: Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton by Diane Alden diane@americanpartisan.com I don't usually watch PBS but they are showing an excellent Ronald Reagan biography. This one includes observations by everyone from his dippy daughter Patty to his more serious daughter Maureen and, of course, Nancy and Ron Jr. Along with his cabinet and advisors and old acquaintances from his days in Illinois and Hollywood a pretty clear picture of Reagan is emerging. Given PBS's usual proclivity for trashing conservatives or making their life hell I was pleasantly surprised. The first part was called The Lifeguard and ...

MS admits planting secret password By Ted Bridis, WSJ Interactive Edition UPDATED April 14, 2000 12:50 PM PT Microsoft engineers placed a password in server software that could be used to gain illicit access to hundreds of thousands of Internet sites worldwide. Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Thursday that its engineers included in some of its Internet software a secret password -- a phrase deriding their rivals at Netscape as "weenies" -- that could be used to gain illicit access to hundreds of thousands of Internet sites worldwide. The manager of Microsoft's security-response center, Steve Lipner, acknowledged the online-security risk in an ...

O'Bannon wins NRA support Commentary by Larry MacIntyre The Indianapolis Star Last updated 02:36 PM, EST, Wednesday, April 05, 2000 The National Rifle Association will be doing everything it can this year to stop Al Gore from becoming president. But in Indiana, chances are good the NRA will be backing Gore's fellow Democrat, Gov. Frank O'Bannon, for re-election. That might seem a bit odd, but then the politics of gun control have always been more complicated than as portrayed on the evening news. Gore is no fool. Two-thirds of American women tell pollsters they want tougher gun laws. They desperately ...