Vladimir Putin is Time’s Person of the Year.  While he may not be the greatest man alive, he has helped the Russian economy greatly these last few years.  And as such, both Hitler and Stalin were once deemed person of the year by Time.  Oh, yeah, and our very own George W. Bush, too.

It’s also important to note the following:

TIME’s Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse. It is ultimately about leadership—bold, earth-changing leadership.

The Motion Picture of Association of America is urging some of the nation’s largest universities to deploy custom software designed to pinpoint students who may be using the schools’ networks to illegally download pirated movies. A closer look at the MPAA’s software, however, raises some serious privacy and security concerns for both the entertainment industry and the schools that choose to deploy the technology.

How this is even legal is insane.  So, MPAA wants to go back to assuming everyone is guilty to ‘protect’ it’s assets?  Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

The MPAA and the RIAA are modern mafias.  They’re ruthless, gutless, and self absorbed.  While I understand pirating is illegal, their tactics to reducing it are just as illegal.  Don’t scare your consumers with threats and lawsuits.  Acknowledge there is a problem, think outside of the box, and devise a new system to counter piracy.  I know it’s not as simple as that, but there has to be something that will balance out piracy.

Japan launched a six-vessel fleet with the goal of killing over one-thousand whales for ‘research’ purposes including fifty humpbacks. 

One thousand whales.  One thousand dead whales, for research.

This slautering (that’s what this is, after all) of humpbacks is the first since 1963 when they initially hit endangered status.  Fortunately, their numbers have increased dramatically since a half century ago.  Japan vows that since their numbers are abundant, they’re killings, for research, is fully justified as it won’t diminish the species.  However, humpbacks are still on the endangered list, and are still marked as being protected.  Why, then, Japan thinks it’s justified is beyond me — especially since the killings are not needed for any form of research.

We note that non-lethal research techniques are available to provide nearly all relevant data on whale populations. (AFP)

However, Japan has rebutted the non-lethal claim, also known as complete bullshit.

Such research is vital to understanding the size of whale populations, the age and reproductive status of the creatures and the effects of environmental damage. (Guardian)

Several countries are against the whale hunt, including the United States, New Zealand, and Australia.  These countries have denounced the whale hunt, and have also questioned the justification the Japanese are using under the ‘research’ umbrella.  New Zealand’s prime minister, Helen Clark, publicly condemned the expedition.

The fleet should have stayed at home, and condemned the expedition as commercial whaling in the guise of scientific research. (Guardian)

Going further, the by-products of the research, also known as the whale meat, are sold on the open food market and restuarants.  And doing a little more research, apparently the Japenese encourage their young to eat more whale meat and consider it a delicacy compared to our high-end meats and seafoods.

How Japanese can justify killing thousands of whales for research, though, is beyond me.  Not that killing one or two for research makes the idea any better, but what’s the research benefits over killing one thousand over just killing two?  The Japanese really need a thousand dead whales to perform their research? And they need a thousand dead whales whom are endangered?

Their hunt is just inhumane, and they should face some form of trade sanctions for doing so. 

Plus, Japan’s need to kill thousand of dolphins?  Nothing short of genocide.  Take Japan off my list of the places I’d like to visit one day.  Culture heritage my ass, too.  I’m all for honoring your past, but there’s need to kill just because the people before you did so.  Make sure you visit the save the Japanese dolphin campaign website.

Tonight, I received an e-mail from an individual, in China (or as she put it, “YES I’M FROM CHINA, PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. WHATEVER YOU THINK OF THAT.” Yes, she wrote it all in caps.), stating her disapproval of a current advertisement running on SongMeanings through Google’s Adsense program.

The advertisement in dispute stated that Taiwan should be accepted in the United Nations. She claimed that she understood that advertisements are needed, on SongMeanings, to help it run. She went on to claim that a political advertisement has no reason to be published on a music-related website. Fine, I agree — especially on the internet, a neutral ground.

However, as she went on, she ended on a very sour note. She strictly claimed, “IF I SEE IT AGAIN, I ‘LL TELL ALL MY FRIENDS AND POST ON THE INTERNET TO BOYCOTT YOUR WEBSITE. I MEAN IT.” Again, in all caps.

Now, let me get this straight. You’ll boycott SongMeanings if we publish something pro-Taiwan. Fine, you have every right to boycott anything your little heart desires. Yet, your “PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA” won’t let a rightfully sovereign nation (Taiwan) have their own freedom, and not be attached as a so-called ‘territory’ of China? Just like you want SongMeanings to be politics-free, the people of Taiwan want to be free of China.

Something just doesn’t sit well with me over her e-mail.

America surely has it’s many faults, there’s no doubt about it. Iraq does want to be free, and I do have confidence in my government that it will be turned over, entirely, to the Iraqi people eventually. On the contrary, China has no plans to let Taiwan have it’s freedom, and it has often made large threats that it will go to war to keep Taiwan as one of it’s ‘territories.’

But her e-mail just proves that the world will always have it’s doubts about China and it’s emergence as a super power.

Quite possibly, I’m reading too much into e-mail. Part of me wants to take the advertisement down, since we do take down advertisements when they tend to be of the more sexual of nature. However, part of me doesn’t want to take it down, because of her stating she’d “BOYCOTT MY WEBSITE” and “SHE MEANS IT.”

In the end, I will have the advertisement be removed, because she is right — politics shouldn’t be involved in a website like SongMeanings. Until then, I’ll just bitch about her on my personal site and proudly proclaim that TAIWAN SHOULD BE A SOVEREIGN NATION.

She just didn’t have to be such an asshole about the advertisement.