Atomictumor

I haven’t talked much about the whole NSA wiretapping fiasco, because I think anybody who’ll say that theres justification in the .gov randomly listening in on conversations of private citizens is either a moron or a facist.  Liberty doesn’t have exceptions.

However, CNET today writes that legislation backed by A.G. Gonzalez is being introduced to Congress that will require ISPs to keep logs of internet usage by subscribers for “a reasonable period of time”.   The legislation is being introduced by Wisconsin’s Rep F. James Sensenbrenner, submitter of such past hits as the Patriot Act, the Real ID act, and who is supposed to lead the fight against those damn copyright infringers and fair use activsts with the upcoming Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006.  On top of being a whopping Bush admin tool, he’s also the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, threw a hissy during renewal talks for the Patriot Act after those darn democrats mentioned Guantanamo Bay too many times, and is the top ranking House member in terms of privately paid travel costs from 2001-2005.

But enough on F. Jim, lets talk about the act.  Under it, all browsing history, chat logs, downloads, uploads, games played, and transactions made will be logged by ISPs at their expense.  Executives who don’t comply with the act can be fined, and thrown in jail for up to one year.  Unfortunately, as AT&T, Verizon, and Bellsouth don’t seem to mind hooking up the NSA (OK, Bellsouth disputes it, but they suck, so I’m ignoring it), you can bet they’ll line right up to hook up the DoJ.

Want more?  Heres some more.  Theres also a provision under the law that blogs, search engines, email providers, and whoever else that has “reason to believe” it facilitates access to child pornography–through hyperlinks or a discussion forum, for instance, is up against a federal felony.  Now, theres nothing worse than child predators, but poorly written laws are almost as bad.  Under the word of this law, whats keeping me from making an anonymous account and putting a comment on Slashdot with some kiddie porn URL long enough for Google to cache it, and the man to put the federal felony hammer down.  I think it would certainly suck, and I don’t like it.

Of course, keep in mind that the man behind this internet legislation recently said:

“At the most basic level, the Internet is used as a tool for sending and receiving large amounts of child pornography on a relatively anonymous basis,”

If you’ve been under a rock, or not reading any local news, the Oak Ridge city council has voted against a budget increase to the Oak Ridge school system, with the expected results being cutting current programs to the tune of about $400K.

The rub of the whole thing, and what a lot of people reading the front pages don’t understand is that the city has evidently been giving schools the shaft for a while. Get this, ripped off directly from Citizen Netmom, a person in the know:

“…the City has been charging the school system not only for parts and labor for bus maintenance (as a regular garage would) but adding a 129% overhead charge plus a 10% ‘administrative fee’” (emphasis mine, because JESUS CHRIST the city is charging our kids out the ass)

The thing with the school board is that they have gone through the proposed budget LINE BY LINE and chopped out $600,000 before asking for the budget increase. Some of the proposed cuts include band camp, bussing within a 1.5 mile radius of the school, elementary school strings classes, nurses, janitors, chaperones, state competitions, and other things that schools have offered for 20 years or so without problems.

The city’s talk is that they are on a ‘flat budget’ plan, and granting the school board’s request would result in a property tax increase, estimated at $30/year for a $150,000 home.

Listen, anybody with any sense at all is going to understand that gutting the school system will have an adverse effect on the city. Less educated people make less money, buy fewer house, and pay less taxes. The crime rate goes up, property values go down, and cities go to seed, and why? Because the city council is concerned that the school board keeps wanting more money? Problem is, the city council unamiously shot down the school boards request earlier in the month, so they evidently don’t possess the same opinion of the worth of the school system as I do.

This is what needs to happen. Everybody concerned about the fate of schools in Oak Ridge needs to email city council and tell them exactly what they need to do. Tell them you can spare a few bucks a month so that you don’t kids walking through your yard to school because the bus doesn’t pick them up.

David Bradshaw
Leonard Abbatiello
Tom Beehan (he didn’t participate in the vote, but email him anyway)
Louise Dunlap
Willie Golden, Jr
Jane Miller
David Mosby
And then to be safe, email the whole crowd at
ccouncil@cortn.org

Don’t know what to say? Try this:
As a concerned citizen of Oak Ridge, I am troubled that the city council does not seem to be supporting its school system. It has come to my attention recently that a necessary, but unfortunate, budget increase requested by the school board has been denied, causing the school board to cut a half million dollars of needed services from their budget for 2007.
This troubles me, as I have always understood that Oak Ridge has a strong commitment to education. In fact, the election platforms of several members of city council (Jane Miller, for instance, mentions it as one of her top three issues in a 2005 Democracy for East Tenneessee questionaire) seem to indicate that the City Council shares my concern for the school system, and Oak Ridge’s future.
Please make the right decision. Now is not the time to try to lecture other officials on remaining within unrealistic budgets, because that only hurts the children and working parents of Oak Ridge.
Thank you sincerly for your time and attention, and for your continued efforts in our city.

Then put your name on it. All you have to do is cut and paste, but seriously, do it. If you have kids, you owe it to them to try to make these people see light.

To celebrate the fact that we have a TV to give away, we’re totally giving away a TV. Yes, this tv is bigger than my children. Yes, this TV works. Except I unplugged the speakers, but that can be fixed.

No, this is the free-est assed big screen TV you are ever likely to see, and its going fast.  Go to the Official Atomictumor TV Giveaway Forum Thread to see how to qualify for this FREE awesome TV!!!

I had my end-of-year meeting with Pigpen’s teacher this morning. Other than a couple of irritating habits, he’s doing really well, which we’re very proud of. One good trait the teacher pointed out was his empathetic nature.
His teacher said he defends kids when they’re being disciplined by the teachers as well as when other children are picking on them.
Apparently, a few weeks ago another child’s father visited the classroom. At one point, the child did something the dad didn’t like. The father proceeded to yell at the kid so loud it scared not only the other kids in the classroom, but the teacher and her aide as well. Not knowing what to do, the teacher sat in stunned silence as the dad continued yelling.
Pigpen stood up, looked at the dad and screamed “YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!”
I was overjoyed to hear this story. I take great pride in how well my kids are turning out, and empathy for one’s fellow human beings is a characteristic I feel is very important.
We just have to make sure he doesn’t turn to the Dark Side.