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.
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??
The Audience Howard Stern Left Behind: Mysteriously, Neither Here Nor There
Howard Stern moves to satellite and NPR’s morning numbers go up? Hmmmm.
It occurs to me that, in my desire to remove my foot from under my horse’s hoof this morning, I may have strained a knee muscle. Ouch, it hurts.
Internet access providers, like Verizon, AT&T, Qwest, Sprint Nextel, etc. will not block, degrade, alter, modify, or change the data consumers send or receive over the Internet.
If the above statement were true, then we would have net neutrality and it would be a non-issue. I think that, historically, the monopolistic communication companies have a tradition of violating this premise, and now it is time for a new generation to learn a lesson.
The internet backbone is a shared public utility. It may be owned and managed by corporate giants, but it only functions as an internet if it is shared and public.
Network neutrality – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Re my previous posting
I see that Wikipedia has a more in-depth explanation of what ‘network neutrality’ is all about.
I trust that the arguments – pro and con – will use a common definition for their discussions. I hate debates where one side is for apples and the other is against oranges.
InternetWeek | News | Net Neutrality Finds Bipartisan Support
I’ve seen a few other comments on ‘net neutrality’ lately, but this article from Internetweek had a link to the telecom group against it, Handsofftheinternet. So I went to their page but it looks like it just got started because they say they are going to explain their side and then don’t.
Continue reading Net Neutrality Finds Bipartisan Support
HA 730-C Denver Basin aquifer system text
Don’t remember if I linked to this doc before, but I was looking over the aquifers again and I am reminded how perilously close to the edge of water we are. If you preview the figures, you will see where the aquifers are mapped out and I think we are not over one or two of them. So, if Denver/Dawson dries up, we will be in a world of hurt.
The Colbert Report interviewed Ted Daeschler, one of the paleontologist discoverers of the fish-tetrapod missing link. As viewers realize, Colbert is an insightful interviewer who doesn’t take kindly to quackery and other wishful thinking such as evolution. So he asked the guy to explain ‘evolution’ in simple terms, and the response was “sex and time”. Such an eloquent explanation. Short, sweet and succint.
If you want to see the video, you will probably need to search the video archives for Daeschler.
Rights of the People: Individual Freedom and the Bill of Rights
An excellent article on the history and evolution of the the right of privacy in the United States. And it is from our Department of State! There are links to a whole set of articles on other Rights.
I think that the three references they start the article with neatly summarize why we think today that every indivuidual has the right to be free from governmental review of their activities and property without a court warrant.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches
and seizures, shall not be violated…
— Fourth Amendment to the U.S. ConstitutionThe enumeration in the Constitution,
of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.
— Ninth Amendment to the U.S. ConstitutionNo State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law.
— Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
(I wonder how much longer they will leave this page online?)
Some books that are referenced
For further reading:
Ellen Alderman and Carolyn Kennedy, The Right to Privacy (New York: Knopf, 1995).
David H. Flaherty, Protecting Privacy in Surveillance Societies (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989).
Richard F. Hixson, Privacy in a Public Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987).
Philippa Strum, Privacy: The Debate in the United States since 1945 (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1998).
Alan F. Westin, Privacy and Freedom (New York: Athenaeum, 1968).