20070623

In Response To...

In response to the letter I posted previously, and also sent to a number of US political figureheads, I received the following response from US Senator (UT) Orrin Hatch:

~~~~~
June 21, 2007

Dear Mr. Crosthwait:

I appreciated reading your comments regarding our nation’s immigration system and the recent debate over comprehensive immigration reform. I welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you know, the Senate recently considered a comprehensive immigration reform bill (S. 1348) intended to address the many problems that plague our immigration system. The bill was debated in the Senate for two weeks and, on June 7, a motion to end debate on the bill was defeated, preventing a final vote from taking place. I agree with the bill’s proponents that we need a comprehensive approach to fix our immigration problems. However, I voted against the motion to end debate because I couldn’t support the bill as it was written and I did not want to let its sponsors force it through the Senate. It is anticipated that we will again take up this issue in the near future.

When it comes to our immigration policy, the status quo is completely unacceptable. Foremost, we simply must do more to secure our borders and develop capable and workable enforcement practices. I believe an approach that couples increased border security and more efficient workplace enforcement will help to stem the tide of illegal immigrants coming to the United States. This is a particular concern in Utah, especially in Southern Utah, which has become a focal point for various networks specializing in the trafficking and smuggling of illegal drugs and immigrants. I am working to direct more Federal government resources to addressing these problems.

In addition, I believe we must find a fair and lawful way to deal with those that are already in our country illegally. However, I will not support any proposal that I believe amounts to blanket amnesty for all illegal immigrants as that would be unfair to the thousands of people who have waited in line to enter the country through the proper channels. Also, a limited guest worker program must be created for our American – and specifically Utah – businesses in need of foreign workers. Finally, for any immigration system to work, we must distribute visas and green cards in a more fair and efficient way.

The current Senate bill would address a number of these issues. For example, it would impose a series of border security triggers that would have to be met before any new immigration programs could be implemented. This is intended to assure that our borders will be secure before we allow any guest workers to enter the country. In addition, the bill would create a more efficient system for employers to verify the immigration status of their employees. The bill would also impose a merit system and a more extensive criminal background check for those who apply for entry into the United States.

That being said, I continue to have a number of difficulties with this legislation. I am hopeful that, as the amendment process moves forward, we can work to improve the provisions of the bill in order to ensure we enact sensible changes to our immigration system. Rest assured that, as the Senate debates this legislation, I will remain committed to enacting substantive reforms that serve our nation’s interests and uphold the rule of law. I will certainly take your comments to heart as this process goes forward.

Thank you for writing.

Sincerely,
Orrin G. Hatch
United States Senator
~~~~~

I'd like to publicly thank Senator Hatch for his timely response and for his thoughtful views on our current immigration laws.

DFOTW (maybe the year...)
Recently, Vice President Dick Cheyney declared that his office and staff are subject to jurisdiction only by the judicial house of the US government. This is absolutely contrary to his office, which is subject to jurisdiction of all houses of every branch of government. Mr. Cheney is setting himself up, apparently, to become the next president, nay, dicator. Alarmist view? Possibly. But if you can show me any other reason for someone is his position to make such a declaration I'd be more than happy to listen to your arguments.

Gryyphyn, out.

20070620

An Open Plea to United States Citizens and Patriots

I cannot honestly believe that the new CIRA bill is to be considered beneficial legislation for the United States by any organization or party in the United States. This is a terrible blow to those of us who call this nation ours. And it is ours. This new bill that that is supported by organizations such as NILC (National Immigration Law Center) and the ACLU is the most ridiculous example of poorly written law that I have seen in my entire life. And that fact that anyone considers it to be beneficial to the United States of America is absolutely ludicrous. I want my country, to which I contribute, to remain my country. If we continue the direction we are currently headed we will have to soon change our nations name to the Divided States of Mexico, Canada and America, a prospect which I don't think any true citizen would like to see happen.

This bill needs to be removed from consideration by all representatives and members of the Senate, the House of Representatives and Congress. Furthermore, any person who suggests legislation such as this and calls it beneficial, honest and constitutional needs to be tried and convicted of treason against the United States in federal court and thrown in a maximum security federal penitentiary for a good, long while for suggesting that we hand over our country for free to the rest of the world.

Here we are, the year 2007, and every honest American sees the problems with illegal immigration, lack of jobs and the problems presented by the amount of illegal immigrants on the health care, welfare and school funding monies available in the United States and wonders why we have these problems. Unconstitutional bills, such as the proposed CIRA legislation, violate America in unnameable ways and hamper the ability for lawful American citizens to receive the benefits guaranteed to them by the existing legislation. Rather than the assistance for health care going to the employed Americans that pay for it through taxes the money is given away to illegal immigrants who have never paid taxes in their lives and most likely have never worked in the United States, either legally or illegally.

I've spent enough time being nice. This must all stop immediately. I am very, very tired of paying for every illegal immigrant to get their 'free' health care. I'm tired of seeing myself and my friends have to jump through hoops, often on to a bed of spikes, just to get a job, and more often than not be denied because the employer is either cheap or afraid of things like Affirmative Action and the ACLU.

Throw every single illegal immigrant out of the United States and give me back my country. I do not want illegal immigrants here taking my money and taking advantage of me. I never did want them here an never did I abide them being here. If you want them so bad then you clothe, feed and house them on your own because I won't. If their country is so damned horrible then they can spend the time making it better like I have, like my parents have, and like every generation of my family, who immigrated here legally, (a concept I do not have a problem with) has done for the last 180+ years.

Call me a bigot if you want. Because I hereby declare that you and your compatriots are unpatriotic and treasonous if you and yours support such legislation. And if I had the power and means I would indict every single supporter for exactly that: treason.

Since I will most likely be misunderstood by sending this letter to the people that I have sent it to openly, please allow me to state one fact that must not be omitted and must be taken in to consideration: all of the subject matter contained in this letter is in reference to illegal immigrants. I have no problem with naturalized citizens, legal immigrants and those who apply for their work visa within 90 days of coming to the United States, with the following provisions: if they choose to bring their families to America their family must apply for their visa or full citizenship within the same 90 day period after arrival and they must all learn English within two years of entry. I do not ask that they write a doctoral thesis to illustrate their knowledge of the English language, simply that they be able to communicate with me in the language of my country, the same country they chose to immigrate to.

I implore you, as an American Citizen, as a taxpayer and on a moral and ethical level: if you support the bill, or legislation that is similar, please stop supporting this bill. If you oppose such legislation, or this bill in particular at least, you have my thanks. Please, have the bill rescinded. Burn it on the steps of Capital Hill in front of all America. Do the right thing.

*Copies of this letter or links to my blog, where it will also be posted in it's entirety, have been sent to the following recipients:
Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah)
Senator Rob Bennet (Utah)
Representative Rob Bishop (Utah)
Representative Chris Cannon (Utah)
Representative Jim Matheson (Utah)
The ACLU, Utah branch (aclu@acluutah.org)
AAAA (American Association for Affirmative Action) (ExecAdminAsst@affirmativeaction.org)
NILC (National Imigration Law Center) (info@nilc.org)

If you have received this letter and believe in it's spirit please forward it on to your constituents, like minded or not.

Chuck 'Gryyphyn' Crosthwait
American citizen, 9th generation+

20070613

Firstly, I appreciate... (My Letter, pt. 3)

Before we begin kiddies I need to express my thanks to Joshua from the FSF who posted the following:

"In either case, we make the premise that a user of software is no less important than an author and that their interests and needs have equal weight. If you do not share this premise, then it is likely that there will be many fundamental disagreements between us."

(The full post from Joshua can be found as the first comment from the previous post. I will leave it posted for reference and posterity.)


Thanks for replying Joshua. Now in to the gritty: it's fluff. It's the kind of stuff that you tell your kids because you want them to drink their milk and get big and strong. It's like repeating the ages old 'sticks and stones' saying to yourself. Try it when you're getting reamed by a loved one. Or a friend. Yeah, words fucking hurt. And comments and idealism, like that expressed by the FSF (in large part, anyway), are detrimental to the entire OSS world. I have a number of friends who have really begun to hate the FSF because of zealots like this. It hurts the cause, guys. A lot. To be honest I don't consider myself equal to a developer. If I did I'd be writing code, contributing to the projects. But I'm not a programmer, therefore I'm not equal to one. Let me put that a different way to better illustrate my point:

#test
string gryyphyn = new string("user");
string programmer = new string("author");

if (gryyphyn == programmer)
console.writeline("Gryyphyn == programmer");
else
console.writeline("Gryyphyn != programmer");
end

gryyphyn@motoko$:>test
Gryyphyn != programmer
gryyphyn@motoko$:>

That clear enough for you?

Really, if you want to release your software for free I applaud you and appreciate the work that you do, as well as thank you for allowing me to use your software without charge. Having said that I'd also like to thank the paid software world: thank's for making software and not charging ungodly amounts of my money for me to use it (obviously I'm not talking to Microsoft here).

Joshua states that we'll have 'fundamental differences'. I think that's simply because I believe in freedom of choice, not just freedom for beer (yeah, that's a badly adapted phrase... oh well). I don't think it's right for anyone to force someone to patent their software and, in the current state of affairs, it's not forced on anyone. But I also think that people should be able to patent their software if they choose so.

Let's all remember something here: it is possible to patent software and still make it available freely. As much as I like it there are other licenses out there besides the GPL that allow for such distrobution. Abolishing patents doesn't keep an author from distributing freely, nor does it force them to charge; it just protects their creative property claim. It's like a signature. Like a sticker on a box. It's there to make sure that someone can defend themselves when someone tries to steal their work, in this case by not giving due credit. So tell me, FSF guys: where, in all fucking honesty, is the harm in that? Why do you want to force everyone to do it your way?

Gryyphyn, out.

20070607

My letter to Richard Stallman, pt. 2

For the unaware: there's a discussion that has been going back and forth between certain members of Section-9 / The Wired. The argument is about the FSF and FOSS. Now, as a personal rule due to difference of opinion, I am not a fan of Richard Stallman. I don't believe that it is the duty of the FSF or any of its representatives to state that all software should be free (as in beer). I do believe that an author, artist or developer (they're all the same thing, believe it or not...) should be able to do what they want with their software, however. This is the spirit embraced by the GPL, the free as in freedom portion. The statement that I quoted from Richard in my previous post is what pissed me off (I'll not be so nice here; it's my blog).

I think it's garbage for Mr. Stallman to attempt to speak on behalf of everyone that he associates with by stated that patents for software should be abolished. The GPL allows authors to do whatever they want with their software that's released under the GPL, and that includes patenting it. Now do I think that patenting GPL licensed software is anything effective? No. It's really inne-fucking-fective, but it's your beast. You should be able to do what you want with it, not what Richard Stallman or any other right- or left-wing ding dong says you should.

Now this particular post isn't in response to anyone but Stallman. The man just pisses me off. So, I formally pose the following questions to him, if he decides to read my dinky little blog: Who the fuck do you think you are trying to force people to follow your way because you think it's better? Do you seriously think that it's better to abolish software patents when corporatized America is simply going to take the lack of patent to steal software, regardless of the license it's released under? And, if you get your way and I'm right about corporate thievery of FOSS, are you going to foot the bill for these small-time developers to sue?

To be completely honest I think you're worse than Microsoft, Oracle and all of these other corporate America/multinational entities: someone who wants to force people to do things their way or none at all. Microsoft wants to prosecute people who have supposedly stolen their software. Let them beat at the wall for a while, it won't hurt any of us. Oracle doesn't fight battles it can't win but, as the leader in the database market (bitch if you want, it's the truth). But you, sir, are a fucking leech on the OSS movement when you make disparaging comments and seemingly try to force people to do things your way or none. Don't pollute the GPL with your right-wing horse puckey.

Now, what the hell is so wrong with people using and developing proprietary software that helps people use their computers? People want to play DVDs on their computer, but you would rather remove CSS. What the fuck? I want to use my iPod in Linux but I can't because Apple wants to keep their stuff closed source but you want to force them to make it open source. Again, WTF? I'd love to see MS Office on Linux. Not because I use it. Hell, I hate it. But because it would help Linux grow into the mainstream market, which is exactly what we need. But would you limit the growth of the strongest soapbox FOSS has so nobody could stand on it and be heard when they speak of the benefits of open source? Because making it so Linux could not use proprietary software, which seems to be the direction the GPL v3 is going (I don't speak legalese fluently), would cripple it like breaking a child's legs, making unable to walk.

Disclaimer:
Mr. Richard Stallman, if you do decide to read my pitiful little blog: If my statements about your beliefs, assertions or anything else are incorrect please feel free to comment. I'll be more than happy to correct my errors. But I doubt I'll have to make any changes to what I've posted.

DF of the... however long it's been now
Me. Why? Because I'm arguing (most likely with myself) on the internet. And arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics: no matter who wins you're still retarded. (And anyone who takes that as an insult has a) no sense of humor and b) a misguided definition of the word.)

Gryyphyn, out.

My letter to Richard Stallman

Full post to follow, this letter was provided for reference.

~~~~~
Hypocrisy I say. I read and re-read the recent article regarding the GPL v3 fears of most users (http://gplv3.fsf.org/rms-why.html). I agree with much of what was said, specifically regarding the ability for people to continue to release their products (after all, that's what they are) under v2. However I take specific exception to the following phrase, taken from para 16:

"The only way to make software development safe is to abolish software patents, and we aim to achieve this some day."

This comment is upsetting. The GPL enables people to do what they want with the software they develop. It's designed to not inhibit the creativity of developers and this statement is contradictory to the spirit of the license. If a developer wishes to patent his work the GPL v2 allows him to do so and, as far as I know, so does v3. But the statement seems to me to state that authors of software should not be able to patent their works, not just the corporations but small-time coders as well.

It is my opinion that Mr. Stallman should not let his beliefs about software affect the ability of coders to do with their software what they want. Microsoft doesn't force everyone to patent what they release so why should the GPL completely outlaw that possibility? This is not conducive to a good relationship between those who want to make money from their software and those that want to allow users to benefit from their programs without charge.

In short, Mr. Stallman, please do not attempt to speak for everyone with statements that appear to not be heavily considered before being stated.

This letter will also be posted on my blog along with a link to Mr. Stallman's original work and the creative license will be posted with it, as requested. My blog can be found at http://dffaq.blogspot.com .

Sincerely,
Chuck "Gryyphyn" Crosthwait
Section-9
~~~~~

Quoted section in paragraph 2 is protected under the following license:

Copyright 2007 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide without royalty in any medium provided this notice is preserved.

Gryyphyn, back soon.

20070605

Why We Fight

I got this email today. I don't have a real post for you, so I'll give you what I have. I like this email. If you don't like it that you most likely need to go back to your country.

~~~
The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war. My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our Country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation. My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window.

He said "Son, stand there and tell me what you see."

"I see trees and cars and our neighbor's houses," he replied.

"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."

Our son giggled and said "OK."

"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.

"OK Dad, I'm pretending."

"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and pretend you see Saddam come out of his house with his wife, he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they are afraid of their father. You see all of this, son....what do you do?"

"Dad?"

"What do you do son?"

"I'd call the police, Dad."

"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations. They take your call.They listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then son?"

"Dad......... but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.

"They don't want to, son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.

"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.

"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."

"Daddy...he kills them?"

"Yes, son, he does. What do you do?"

"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him," our son says.

"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.

"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"

"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?" Our son starts to cry.

"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next, son?"

"What Daddy?"

"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"

"Daddy..."

"WHAT DO YOU DO?" Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd close the blinds, Daddy."

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him. "Why?"

"Because Daddy, the police are supposed to help people who need them and they won't help. You always say that neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either. They won't help me stop him. I'm afraid. I can't do it by myself, Daddy. I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and... and... do nothing... so... I'm just going to close the blinds so I can't see what he's doing... and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."

I start to cry. My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husband's questions and he says...

"Son"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Open the blinds because that man, He's at your front door. WHAT DO YOU DO?"

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he says: " I DEFEND MY FAMILY, DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA GIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs our son to his chest and hugs him tight, and says... " It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife, and his children and the old lady across the way. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before its too late," my husband whispers.

THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq . When good men stand by and let evil happen, son, THAT is the greatest atrocity in the world. "YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!" BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS..."

Steven R Chandler, CMSgt
332 ELRS/Vehicle Management
Flight Balad Air Base , Iraq
~~~

If you made it this far I'd like to give you another thought cookie: be proud of your own country. I have respect for ethnic diversity and for the beliefs and values of other cultures, even when/if they conflict with my own. If we didn't have diversity we wouldn't have life. But, with all due respect to your native country's flags and songs and traditions, I don't want to drive down Mexico Street or Tonga Boulevard or Africa Lane. I keep my music turned down because I can enjoy it without the rest of the world having to endure it. I keep my traditions inside my house because they're mine. I celebrate my national holidays in a park because this is my country and our society allows me to do such, so you have no fucking right to get pissed at me when I do so. It is my country after all.

So please turn down your stereo and have some courtesy. Take your !Vive! la Mexico flags back to Mexico if you think it's so fucking great. If you think I'm a bigot then you can kiss my ass. I don't go to Russia and expect them to speak English, give me free insurance, not deport me for not getting the equivalent of a visa or expect them to either provide translators or give me forms in English to fill out. That's just fucked up.

I want my documentation for products sold in stores to be in American unless they're strictly import, like Japanese candies or real Belgian chocolates. I want my billboards along American highways to be in fucking American English. That's the language here. I don't want to pay $6000 / yr for health insurance because we're treating illegal immigrants for free. I don't want to get paid shit wages because we have a bunch of illegal immigrants who will build computers for minimum wage when the job should pay at least $12. And I'm really fucking tired of having to search and search for a job so hard when I'm over qualified because of this affirmative action horse shit. So, mister HR man, you don't want to seem racist so you're going to hire a whole bunch of people who don't put Caucasian on their application? What you're really doing is practicing government protected bigotry.

Why is it so hard for a single white male, 18-35 to get a job? Because we're hiring a) illegal immigrants, b) unqualified non-white-male peoples to make the fucking ACLU happy and c) everyone else who isn't "better off than everyone else". Let me tell you something really god damned important right now, just to set the record straight: I'm 25, white, have a bachelors degree in Computer Science, 10+ years of customer service experience, 10+ years of production line experience, a clean driving record, can read and write fluently and precisely, and am more qualified for 90% of the jobs I've applied for. But I've lost all of them to: illegal immigrants that needed to have a translator both in the work place and while they were filling out their applications; unwed white mothers 18-25 who can't type, lift heavy objects and have made the business revolve around their schedule; people who haven't completed high school, let alone even attended college; and a myriad of others who simply weren't qualified for the positions. Because of all of this I have a job that barely pays my bills, have to live with my Mom, I can't have any health insurance at all because it's too expensive and I have to work twice as hard to get half of the money that my background, experience and education should get me.

My solution to all of the above
1. Stop breeding: stupid; thievery; dishonesty; and children who think it's okay to do any of the aforementioned.
2. Stop stealing resources from everyone else
3. Deport all illegal immigrants, no questions asked. If you're country is broken then fix it. We don't walk away from problems here in the US.
4. Keep your shit to yourself, even if you think it smells like fucking roses.
5. Learn at least some of the language and customs of wherever you visit.
6. Visit, don't stay.
7. Be nice to others. You'd be amazed at how much better you feel. (And being nice does not include handing everything you have over, but it does mean that you can take action against those who try to take everything from you. Unless you want parasites like tapeworms and leeches all over you. Then you can go make your own fucking country.)

If you don't like what I've said then you probably shouldn't have read it. If you did and agree good for you because you've realized that we have a serious problem. If you read it and hated it then you have a serious problem. I'm willing to help others but not at the expense of 'me and mine'. And if you know how to resolve it please let me know because all I have are suggestions and everyone's too afraid to speak up (see story above).

Gryyphyn, out.