Is new AOL IM slogan marketing blasphemy?

Well, if anyone doubted that the folks at WorldNetDaily were a bunch of idiots, I submit the following from their web site. Apparently America Online has adopted a new marketing slogan for it's Instant Messenger service, that uses the phrase “I Am” in various ways, such as “I am all you need to communicate.” Well, the nutjobs at WorldNetDaily have taken this and ran with it, contending that it infringes on God's trademarked phrase “I Am.” I'm sure that if that's the case, America Online will be hearing from God's lawyers. We all know how touchy He is about trademark and copyright infringement.

Sniff sniff. Anyone else smell a boycott coming on? Brace yourselves for a slew of e-mails from your well-meaning but clueless relatives about the evils of America Online, as well as the inevitable e-mail petition calling for a Christian boycott of the Evil Empire of America Online, imploring you to stand for what's right and fight back against the moral decay of the country and those wacky Liberals who want us all to marry goats and worship the dark lord Sauron.

Yes, my friends. There are idiots among us.

If nothing else, it will be interesting to watch the wailing and gnashing of teeth that will ensue. We don't care if the Republicans dismantle our American Democracy, but we'll stand up for this kind of crap, won't we? My God. What have we become?

Here are some excerpts from the WorldNetDaily article.

Is new AOL IM slogan marketing blasphemy?
‘I AM’ pitch takes God's name in vain, say some shocked critics

When Ian Millar opened up his AOL Instant Messenger program yesterday and linked to the new AIM Triton site, he wasn't prepared for what he saw.

”I have been an AIM customer for many years, and although I do not use AOL for my mail client, I have recommended it for relatives and friends,” he said in letter to top executives of the company. “In general, I appreciate AOL and your business savvy.”

But when Millar saw the company's new slogan, he was shocked and disgusted. He was not alone.

America Online is now acting like God – using what some consider to be His very name in a marketing pitch for e-mail, voice chat, video chat, instant messaging, text messaging and other forms of communication.

AIM's new slogan is “I AM.”

Just so no one would doubt the building / impending outrage, WorldNetDaily saw fit to put up a poll, asking its users what they thought. The results are telling, and rather frightening. Please note which selection got the most votes, as well as the phrasing of “The Marketing of Evil,” a clumsy tie-in to a book that WorldNetDaily has been pushing; The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom. “The Marketing of Evil” has become something of a catch-phrase on WorldNetDaily's web site.

What do you think of blasphemy charge against AOL?

An example of ‘The Marketing of Evil’
26.39% (355)

It's ridiculous – the words 'I AM' is a commonly used English-language phrase
13.68% (184)

It's a deliberate effort to position the company in a God-like state
11.75% (158)

It's a mistake by AOL, but the company will not correct it
11.30% (152)

It's a mistake by AOL, and the company will likely correct it
10.71% (144)

It's a well-deserved charge, I'm kissing AOL good-bye
10.48% (141)

This is 'spiritual correctness' – and it's as bad as political correctness
8.25% (111)

Other
3.27% (44)

Some people are just hypersensitive
2.75% (37)

It's an innocent oversight by AOL
1.41% (19)

TOTAL VOTES: 1345

- Watch Alert Archived Post
- Original Article

Related Links

- WorldNetDaily Poll
- American Online
- AOL Instant Messenger
- WorldNetDaily

Conservatives See Court Shift as Culmination

With the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court virtually assured, it might behoove us to look back and some of the Conservative players who have brought about this extreme shift to the right in America in the Executive and Legislative, and now the Judicial, branches of our government. These are some of the people we will have to thank for what befalls this country in the next several years. These are the people who have worked so hard to wreak havoc with American democracy, and whose works have already and will in the future result in the damages that our children will spend decades repairing.

- Watch Alert Archived Post
- Original Article

Eminent domain activists try to evict a court justice

One has to wonder why the Conservative talking heads and rank-and-file Republicans are so upset that a court justice should be held liable to the same laws as the average American. Long story short, Supreme Justice David Souter was one of the justices joined a 5-4 majority upholding the right of governments to appropriate private property for commercial development. Any commercial development. According to the legislation, if any real estate developer decides that your property is in a prime location and can convince local and state governments that the commercial development of your property is in the best interest of the community, the local and state governments can simply take your land and give it to the developer. You will have no rights whatsoever that can help you fight this.

Well, local residents in Weare, New Hampshire, where Justice Souter has a farmhouse, decided that Justice Souter's home could be developed in a way that would benefit the local community. In short, they're trying to hold Souter accountable to the same laws he helped put into place. After all, if John Smith can lose him home and property to enrich some clever real estate developer, why not Justice David Souter?

Naturally, this has played out along political lines, with the Republicans almost universally believing that it's just fine to make private companies rich at the expense of American citizens. But then, that's sort of their basic platform, isn't it?

- Watch Alert Archived Post
- Original Article

11 Indicted in 'Eco-Terrorism' Case

This should worry all Americans. Whether or not you agree with the tactics of these nutjobs who are going out and causing all of this damage, I'm uncomfortable with the free use of the words “terrorist” and “terrorism” here. Apparently since the United States Government is making no progress (or real effort) in regard to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, they've decided to go after groups of domestic misfits and dub them “Eco-Terrorists.”

People such as the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front are self-righteous assholes who have committed criminal acts of sabotage and destruction, but does anyone really think they're in the same league as al-Qaeda? Maybe it is only a matter of time before their idiotic campaigns result in the injury of or death of a person, but I still have a hard time envisioning these people kidnapping and beheading social workers or employees of the companies they've been targeting.

All I'll say in conclusion is that we should worry when the Government starts referring to idiots such as the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front as terrorists. Keep in mind that under the Bush Administration Education Secretary Rod Paige called the National Education Association a terrorist organization. With that in mind, it's very clear that these eleven indictments show that the United States Government considers every American to be a potential terrorist.

- Watch Alert Archived Post
- Original Article

References:

- Paige calls NEA ‘terrorist organization’ (CNN)

Privacy experts condemn subpoena of Google

President Bush's and the Republicans' war against the American people continues. Not only do they want to know what books you're checking out from the library and who you're talking to on the telephone, they want to know what you're searching for on the Internet, by way of Google and other search engines. They're using the issue of child pornography to justify this incredible breach of the public trust, and naturally the Conservative media talking heads are more upset with Google for having the information that with the President for trying to get his hands on it.

This may just be a smoke-screen. Republicans have essentially stated that these are the early shots in an effort to revive the Child Online Protection Act, a handy piece of over-reaching legislation that the Supreme Court threw out for being un-Constitutional. Now that the Republicans are on the verge of shifting the Supreme Court radically to the extreme right with the appointment of Samuel Alito, it's unlikely it would be tossed out again should it make it back into legislation.

Don't be mislead. The demands upon Google that have been made by the Bush Adminstration are indeed worrisome. But as with all things where Republicans are concerned, you have to dig a little deeper to discover what they're really up to. We shouldn't be as upset about Bush's disregard for the American privacy that we forget that what he and the Republicans might do with any information gained is far more troubling.

- Watch Alert Archived Post
- Original Article

Watch Alert Archive References:

Child Online Protection Act: The basics
(Nov 27, 2001)

Lawyer takes free-speech case to the top court
(Nov 27, 2001)

Mandate for Net filters debated
(Dec 31, 2000)

References:

- Children's Online Protection Act of 1998

Israel halts Christian center talks with Robertson

The first word that came to my mind when I read the article I just posted to The Watch Alert archive regarding Pat Robertson was “dumbass.” Only Pat Robertson could so stupid and insensitive to bad-mouth a man (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon) who had recently had a massive stroke and was being kept in a coma by his doctors.

“God considers this land to be his,” Robertson said of Gaza. ““For any prime minister of Israel who decides he will carve it up and give it away, God said, ‘No, this is mine.’ I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course.”

Spying on Americans. Still.

I've posted 3 articles to the Watch Alert archive regarding the Bush Adminstration's spying scandal. These articles discuss different aspects of this issue, but are all inter-related by their subject matter.

Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program - Apparently there were some good, decent people in the law enforcement community who had concerns about the legality of what the Bush Administration was doing.

Schumer Seeks Motive in U.S. Spy Probe - After the National Security Administration (NSA) ominously announced an investigation into who leaked the information about President Bush's authorization for the NSA's spying on American citizens, some people began to wonder if this was an intimidation tactic to quell others from coming forward.

US spies said to share eavesdropping data - Oh, yeah. It doesn't stop with the NSA. The information collected by the NSA on American citizens was shared with the Defense Intelligence Agency, among other agencies, and would be made available to the FBI,
DIA, CIA and Department of Homeland Security, for further investigation.

And in closing, I'd like to mention a solid reference from Media Matters. I've just listed the individual headings here, so I encourage you to read the entire article for details. Essentially, what follows is a list of the lies and spin that is being peddled around by the Republicans and by the Conservative media. If you want to hear this garbage, just switch channels to Fox News or tune your radio into any of the Conservative talk shows. This is what they're all saying.

Top 12 media myths and falsehoods on the Bush administration's spying scandal.

1. Timeliness necessitated bypassing the FISA court.


2. Congress was adequately informed of -- and approved -- the administration's actions.


3. Warrantless searches of Americans are legal under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.


4. Clinton, Carter also authorized warrantless searches of U.S. citizens.


5. Only Democrats are concerned about the Bush administration's secret surveillance.


6. Debate is between those supporting civil liberties and those seeking to prevent terrorism.


7. Bin Laden phone leak demonstrates how leak of spy operation could damage national security.


8. Gorelick testimony proved Clinton asserted “the same authority” as Bush.


9. Aldrich Ames investigation is example of Clinton administration bypassing FISA regulations.


10. Clinton administration conducted domestic spying.


11. Moussaoui case proved that FISA probable-cause standard impedes terrorism probes.


12. A 2002 FISA review court opinion makes clear that Bush acted legally.