- That all People are created equal.
- That all People are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, Including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
- That Governments are instituted among People, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of the People, it is the Right of the People, it is the Duty of the People, to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government and to provide new Guards for their future security.
- That Prudence dictates that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.
- That all experience has shown that People are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
All posts by Jack
Tech Faceoff: Net Neutrality, In the Eye of the Beholder
Tech Faceoff: Net Neutrality, In the Eye of the Beholder
Looks like the WaPo is answering some of the questions I had earlier. It still seems to me that both sides are arguing apples and bricks.
What is a liberal society today?
Good question. I am having a hard time getting an answer.
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, the Bill of Rights; these were all written by liberals. Yet, 225 years later, ‘liberal’ seems to have taken on a demonic connotation. Well, fuck that, I am an American and that makes me a liberal. The liberal paradigm seems to have shifted quite a bit since the Founding Fathers did their thing. And this is good, we must either evolve or die. Over the years we have seen a liberal society pursue manifest destiny, go after slavery, back down the robber barons, bust trusts, attempt to regulate security markets, provide for the social welfare of its elderly, provide minimal medical care for its citizens, and try to prevent the poisoning of the public. The American people have forgotten their roots and seem to be actively supporting the rollback of these liberal evolutionary steps. It is time to stop this.
Security Watch from PC Magazine – The Vish Are Biting
Security Watch from PC Magazine – The Vish Are Biting
They are getting vicious out there. (not that there weren’t already)
Keep an eye on the address line in your browser.
‘Net Neutrality’ Amendment Rejected
‘Net Neutrality’ Amendment Rejected
I am getting a bit confused as to what ‘Net Neutrality’ is all about.
The large content providers, like Google and Yahoo and Microsoft, have very large data pipes connecting themselves to the Internet. They are paying the market rate for the volume they use and for the Quality of Service they expect. The Service Providers use those revenues to maintain and expand the network. If new services and a new Quality of Service is required, the service provider is perfectly entitled to charge more. They are adding new equipment and capabilities to the network.
My one concern with the service providers is that they will use their monopolistic control of network access to charge exorbitant rates for new or old QoS traffic.
I know others are worried that the service providers will start corrupting QoS for content providers that are possible competitors for the Service Provider’s content. (That would be be a contract violation, just like a telco providing your call records to a third party.) This is not a smart thing to do and can be easily detected.
The Content Users are the most likely content throttle, their access bandwidth may not be suitable for some streaming content, and while the ISP may be able to provide more bandwidth (using more network resources) for more money, the user may not want to pay the additional tariff. That’s their decision.
Of course, if the ISP provides more bandwidth to deliver the ISP’s content, at no extra charge, then they are exerting their monopoly and should be so charged.
JPRI Critique Vol. IX No. 5
After hearing all the glowing references to Hank Paulson, as the experienced Wall Streeter amply qualified to be Secretary of the Treasury, I was wondering why more people weren’t focusing on what Goldman Sachs was doing at the turn of the millennium.
I was sure I remembered that GS was instrumental in the dot com bubble.
Against School – John Taylor Gatto
Against School – John Taylor Gatto
I caught this over at Making Light.
Almanac of Policy Issues
This looks like an interesting “source of information” site. I just came across it with the previous posting. Lots of public policy areas covered.
Child Support Enforcement Program
Child Support Enforcement Program
Looks like there is some sort of coordinated Child Support Program. My idea was to make the state pay the court-ordered child support and then have the state collect from the paying parent. That way the children would get their support even if the paying parent doesn’t pay. With interstate cooperation, a parent would have to go far away to get away from paying child support.
What are they teaching these kids nowadays?
As I was a member of the not-so-walking wounded this weekend, I settled in front of the TV to watch the World Cup games. England really needs to learn to play football.
In between the matches, ABC reverted to the ‘regularly scheduled’ programming, which in this case was the Lilo and Stich TV show. I haven’t watched Saturday morning cartoons in a long while, but I didn’t change channels.
In this episode, Lilo has some sort of alien that can eavesdrop and replay what it hears. Of course, Lilo hears something replayed, misinterprets it, and all sorts of hilarity follows. And all along her mother is telling her that eavesdropping is not right. Eventually she sees the error of her ways, learns her lesson, takes her just desserts and hands over the trouble-making, eavesdropping alien to the government.
WTF??