Those of you who know me, know that I tend to avoid talking about politics as much as I can. This is mainly because it's a sure way to piss people off, and I do that enough already by being myself. Another thing I tend to avoid is religion, but that's another story for another day.

Our government threatens to change the Internet as we know it. I'm not talking about sales tax or things like that -- no, I'm talking about censorship. After all, that's what SOPA and PIPA boil down to. The wording of the legislation is vague enough to allow our government, built on the tenets of free speech and freedom of expression among other things, to prevent the citizens from accessing websites that they can get to today. Not only would they prevent access to those sites, but the burden of policing the content would be placed on the owners of said sites, and the punishment for not policing said content is jail time -- more jail time than Conrad Murray got for his actions (or lack thereof) that ended Michael Jackson's life.

Yes, the blackout day is over. That's why you can see this post, why you can access Wikipedia and Reddit. But as much as the news reports that we have won, the fight is not over because the bills still exist. I have contacted all three of my congressmen (and don't go after me, anti-sexism police, because all three of them are indeed men) and have stated my opposition to the legislation. Do I expect my own words to make a difference in how they vote? No, I most certainly do not. After all, I'm not the one paying them thousands upon thousands of dollars to vote the way I say. But if this country is truly a representative republic in which Congress is meant to represent the will of the citizens, SOPA and PIPA will not pass.

This is not the end of it, either. The industries behind these two bills (because, let's face it, no congressperson is intelligent or technologically savvy enough to come up with this kind of thing on their own) still have the money and, therefore, the influence to dream things like this up and try to ram them down our throats. The mass media will continue to gloss over these sorts of things because they support them; it takes a full blackout or a simple protest from some of the largest websites out there to draw the public's attention to what is happening.

Did you ever wonder why movies and music are so expensive? Based on the industries that support these two bills it's clear that the money is going directly to lobbying, which is a fancy and polite way to say bribery. The government places the interests of large industries before the interests of the people, treats people like criminals before they've committed crimes, and dreams up draconian legislation in attempt to put rose-colored glasses in front of our eyes the way China and Iran do, and most of us just sit there and take it.

So, what am I asking for? Why am I posting something this long and rambling? We need a change. We don't need a change in the form of a politician who says "I'm going to bring change"; we need change in the form of politicians who actually make change. There is a list of politicians and their stance on SOPA at www.sopaopera.org. The ones who support it are on the left; the ones who oppose, on the right. The ones on the left need to be voted out of office. End their political careers by sending them home for attempting to curtail freedom of speech -- the freedom of speech that is guaranteed to us, as US citizens, in our Constitution. If you do not, the leaders of our country will continue to trample on it and all the rights and freedoms guaranteed within.

Happy birthday there

So ... I registered all of these domains, but I have been sandbagging like a mofo getting them up and running. Need to start working on them soon, before I forget that they exist.

Today's the last working day of 2011. Doesn't feel like it should be this close to the end of the year, though -- I woke up to rain, not snow, and am not planning to do anything big as always.

I know what people say when they talk about time going by fast now. So much has happened over the past year that it all runs together, even with Mario -- he was basically a bologna loaf that you could put in one place, look away, look back and he'd still be there. Now he runs around the house like he's got a jetpack strapped to his ass and causes minor amounts of chaos wherever he goes.

Anyway ... looking forward to what 2012 brings.

I'm almost 31 years old now. I've lived in the Chicago area for all almost 31 of those years and have been driving in it for almost 15. It never ceases to amaze me that snow continues to catch us all off-guard when it starts showing up on the ground. It's not the apocalypse, people! You live in a state that sees all four seasons, possibly within a 24-hour period. This should not come as a surprise.