Cries of protest, censorship greet news of cybersecurity bill

The sweeping legislation included a provision to give the president the power to “order the disconnection of any Federal government or United States critical infrastructure information systems or networks in the interest of national security.”

Critics of the measure said the provision needed to be more clearly defined, but expected the Internet, along with telecommunications and banking systems, to fall under “critical infrastructure.”

Some people get a little too upset, too quickly. Just put it in perspective. Is this the sort of power you would want Dick Cheney to have wielded?

via Boing-Boing

The very idea that the police may come up to me and take away my camera, or otherwise impede my taking photos in a public place, fills me with concern and a sense of dread. Given the actions of Transit Police in NY to someone taking photos for an Amtrak Photo Contest and other recent police transgressions there is cause to worry. And it all comes down to a someone thinking that they are authorized to harass and harangue a citizen acting in a manner they think is inappropriate. What do they call them now? “Mall Cops?”

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has developed a CompactFlash card that can transmit data to a nearby card/flash disk – using bluetooth or something similar – rather than storing the data on the CF card itself. (My camera uses a CF card for memory.) Thus if someone takes my camera (police or thief) the pictures I have been taking will be stored safely somewhere else.

I suppose if a travelling companion had a receiver card as well, we could have redundant backup storage.  Probably want to protect the transmission so I don’t recieve someone else’s photos in addition to mine or vice versa.

A quick google of ‘Compact Flash bluetooth’ indicates that there is something out there. Whether it does what I want needs to be seen.

Why do legislators keep getting tapped for running departments and agencies? Aside from the fact that the legislator was elected by their fellow citizens to represent them or their state in the legislature; the legislator doesn’t have executive or administrative skills by virtue of being a legislator. A legislator says “This is WHAT we want to happen.” An executive says “This is HOW we will make it happen.”

(This is what I perceive as the problem with the parliamentary system.)

Look at Daschle, in the legislature for umpteen years and doesn’t know how to track taxable income. Because he thinks WHAT and not HOW.

Why doesn’t the incoming Executive go after executives to run his departments – Governors, administrators, CEOs, people who think of HOW they can make something happen.  He’s got a few, I hope they do well.

One last thought, The President is not King, The President is not King. The People are King, The People are King.

Think of a corporation as a union of capitalists.

Think of a union as a corporation of workers.

There are some benefits in members combining to promote the greater good.

Reading Krugman today, he raises some concerns about Us, the people, bailing out the banking system without getting an ownership stake in the banking system.

My response to this prospect is: so? If taxpayers are footing the bill
for rescuing the banks, why shouldn’t they get ownership, at least
until private buyers can be found? But the Obama administration appears
to be tying itself in knots to avoid this outcome.

There are two good approaches I have heard about in regard to the bailout.

One is to create a parallel banking system to the current one that will handle the ‘credit crunch’ everyone is worried about. Let the existing banking system fail and then sell the new banking system to investors to recoup the people’s investment (and maybe make a profit.)

The second addresses the mortgage morass. The People can look at and underwrite all outstanding mortgages (I would only do this for primary residences and not for investment properties.) Basically, we look the current mortgagee’s ability to pay on their mortgage. If they have a $750K mortgage and can only make payments on a $500K mortgage, we would step in and take over the $250K difference. In exchange, when the owner sells the house we would our $250K plus interest and 1/3 of the profit (if any). (I am assuming that the current owner may hold on to the property until the market rebounds and the house is once again worth more the $750K) This allows the mortgagee to keep a house at a price they can afford, maintains the mortgages underlying the mortgage bond market, hopefully stops the mounting pile of foreclosures, and steadies the financial foundations that are crumbling away.