WeMatter.com (Blog)

Ron Paul in One Lesson: A Primer on Libertarianism

2012-01-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul in One Lesson: A Primer on Libertarianism The Venn of Ron Paul and Other Mysteries of Libertarianism Explained Romney’s Wrong: Federal Low-Income Program Dollars Go Overwhelmingly to Beneficiaries -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethical Analysis of the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign Desktop Users Can Send Docs to Kindle in 2 Clicks

2012 Political Predictions

2011-12-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

2012 Political Predictions Michael Tomasky, Paul Begala, More Beast Contributors, Dec 29, 2011 KARL ROVE, As New Year's approaches, here are a baker's dozen predictions for 2012., DECEMBER 29, 2011 Robert Reich, Obama-Clinton versus Romney-Rubio.Obama-Clinton hands down. Jan 1, 2012 ---------------------------------------------- Bush ($5.07T) vs. Obama ($1.44T) spending Sullivan, Dec 30, 2011

Ron Paul

2011-12-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

H.R.539 -- We the People Act H.R.539 --To limit the jurisdiction of the Federal courts, and for other purposes. -- January 14, 2009 Andrew Sullivan The Circumstantial Evidence Against Paul, Dec 23, 2011 Re-Thinking The Paul Endorsement, Dec 24, 2011

Newt and the Courts

2011-12-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

Newt And The Courts, Andrew Sullivan The Dish Courting Disaster ... Newt Gingrich's ill-advised war on the only branch of government that people believe in. By Dahlia Lithwick (Slate) Newt and His Surprising Liberal Allies ... He’s not the only one who thinks there is a huge problem with giving the Supreme Court final say on the Constitution. By Eric Posner

2011/12/11

2011-12-16T12:43:00.000-08:00

2011/12/11 -- LinksThe Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity Audio Book | Jeffrey D. Sachs The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity Audio Book | Jeffrey D. Sachs Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You 3,500 Words On Hacked Climate Emails, But The Weekly

Climate articles

2011-10-06T22:53:00.000-07:00

The Big Picture: A 40-Year Scan of the Right-Wing Corporate Takeover of America Science article recognizes John Mashey NAS President Peter Wood: wrong, dishonest or hopelessly compromised? (New Mashey Report Disrobes Climate Disinformer) From Oct 4, 2011 eMail:

2011/09 topics

2011-09-18T01:10:00.000-07:00

Sept 21 And About Those Structural Imbalances I think Matt Yglesias is closing in on a crucial difference between two sides in this debate about how to get out of our current economic mess, a difference that doesn’t divide neatly along a right-versus-left axis....What caused that hit – presumably the massive financial crisis triggered by the fall in housing prices – is less important

Texas "Facts"

2011-08-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Liberal spin Texas Tax System Heavily Burdens Poor Residents (Aug 2011) Huff post Even without having to pay income tax, the poorest fifth of Texans ended up paying about 12 percent of their income in taxes in 2009, ITEP reports. The wealthiest 1 percent of Texans paid only 3 percent of their income in state and local taxes.

8/15/2011

2011-08-16T00:13:00.000-07:00

<< p.s. In the future I will be investigating what rights Americans have, if any, relative to the states, as strong federalists see them, or if most of these are entirely up to the individual states independent of any federal intervention ... As far as I can see there is very little that restricts the states actions" Links: http://gizmodo.com/5831085/

Monitory Policy, (Skepical Optimist)

2011-08-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

Money: The economy’s lubrication Money: The economy’s lubrication Two Printing Presses: One at the Fed, One at the Treasury How the Fed creates money without creating socialism How the US Treasury pays back the debt The public’s T-bond supply Paying down the debt: Our dubious history, and a startling conclusion Articles on Economic "theories" The Republicans’ new voodoo economics? (

Political Taxonomies

2011-08-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

Political Taxonomies (Google Search) There are at least two definitions for "Political Taxonomy": A categorization of the political systems, e.g. Democracy, Dictatorship... (Which I will ignore) A categorization of the ways that individuals value political issues, and perhaps the valuation of an issue. e.g. Liberal, Conservative... (Note this is what I am interested in, MLL) My theory is that

Consider no Debt increase

2011-07-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

There seems to be more than a 2:1 ratio of the public in favor of no debt limit increase, I'm about ready to abandon the effort to increase it and then let the programs that spend more than, say 10% of the budge ,to be cut about 50% till the next election with no IOU's or change in policies ... It's a plan... that saves $981 with only the top level cuts The second option is "for the Treasury

THE FAIR SOCIETY (A blog about how to get from here to there).

2011-07-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Some Problems with Libertarianism Some Problems with Libertarianism (Part One) December 2, 2010 Some Problems with Libertarianism (Part Two) December 12, 2010 Some Problems with Libertarianism (Part Three) July 11, 2011 Other topics

Graphic sites, July 2011

2011-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Government Spending in United States: Federal State Local 2011 (by: Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.) Good Infographics

Free Enterprise market

2011-06-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

Free Enterprise maret (competative model) Much of economics is based on the assumption that the systems that they are analyzing are a coordinated set of "Free Enterprise Markets" with entities who are guided by "Rational Actor Theory". This entry attempts to clarify my thoughts about the Assumptions and Conclusions of this situation. Free Enterprise market. (competitive model), [T]he flows of

Philosophy(1)

2011-06-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

Philosophy (Main theories) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Branches of philosophyEthics, or "moral philosophy", is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live, and secondarily, concerning the question of whether this question can be answered. The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics concerns the nature of ethical

Kenneth Arrow Was Here (Editorial) HealthCare (4)

2011-06-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

June 9, 2011, 5:34 pm Kenneth Arrow Was HereSome readers ask why my argument that relatively centralized systems work better for health care (nyt) than the “free market” isn’t an argument for government ownership of everything.The answer is that health care is different: it’s a sector in which basically every market failure you can think of takes place. And we’ve known that since Kenneth

Budget fy2012

2011-06-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

There are a number of proposed budgets for fy2012. This post attempts to list them: Rand Paul's budget bill (PDF) , A detailed {critical} look at the Rand Paul spending bill (Washington Examiner) Paul Ryan's Budget -- The Republican "Roadmap Plan" (NewsWeek) Spending Reduction Act of 2011 reduces federal spending by $2.5 trillion over ten years The People's Budget, Congressional Progressive

Inequality

2011-06-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

I have noted a few books, sites, and results that seem to be related to the Stanford course: BooksAn excerpt from Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer - And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class by Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson (Simon & Schuster, 2011). The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too -- James Galbraith (

Libertarian Party 2010 Platform

2011-05-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

Libertarian Party 2010 Platform Strongly Edited, Mike Liveright 1.0 Personal Liberty -- Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves 1.1 Expression and Communication -- We support full freedom of expression and oppose government censorship 1.2 Personal Privacy -- the rights recognized by the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our persons, homes, and property. 1.3

Justice is served, but more so after lunch: how food-breaks sway the decisions of judges

2011-05-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

Discovery Discussion {The original article} shows that the odds that prisoners will be successfully paroled start off fairly high at around 65% and quickly plummet to nothing over a few hours (although, see footnote). After the judges have returned from their breaks, the odds abruptly climb back up to 65%, before resuming their downward slide. A prisoner’s fate could hinge upon the point in the

AT&T case

2011-05-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

In the case of AT& T Mobility v. Concepcion the Supreme Court decided that: "California state contract law, which deems class-action waivers in arbitration agreements unenforceable when certain criteria are met, is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act because it stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress". (Also see:

Ideological Budget

2011-02-20T18:54:00.000-08:00

It seems to many people that the House Budget cuts are Justified on the basis of trying to balence the budget, but are specifically motivated by a Conservative ideology.I think it would ber interesting to see what a similar Budget cut that was motivated by a Liberial ideology would be, so I am opening up this Blog comment area for those people who would like to identify programs, and their costs,

Republican Budgets (After STOT 2011)

2011-01-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

Republican Tea Party Budget -- r Rand Paul wants to slash $500 billion in fiscal year 2011, which only has eight remaining months. Bachmann lists more than $400 billion in cuts. Rand Paul's budget bill (PDF) A detailed look at the Rand Paul spending bill (Washington Examiner) Paul Rayan's Budget -- The Republican "Roadmap Plan" -- would zero out the deficit, balance the budget by 2063, and

Republican Government

2010-12-30T00:23:00.000-08:00

Now that they are Governing? 01/29/2010 -- Republicans scramble for credit on the economy 12/29/2010 -- [N]ew nuclear plants depends now, as always, on federal subsidies -- will Reps subsidize them? 12/29/2010 -- Could End Lame Duck Sessions 12/29/2010 -- Dismantling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac isn't so urgent after all 12/28/2010 -- Rule Changes Pave the Way For Major Deficit-Increasing Tax

Economic charts/graphs and discussions

2010-12-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

Economic charts/graphs and discussions 12/22/2010 (Previous 12/07/2009) MetricMash -- Dynamic graphs of US economic data, state unemployment rates & historical charts -- historical charts enabling insightful analysis of US economic data including national and state unemployment rates The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States (thru 2006)

Factoids

2010-12-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

Factoids (Truths that may be contested) Social Security originally covered most Americans -- NYT, P. Krugman 12/10/2010

Economic notes

2010-11-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

"Economics Offers Tactics, Not Strategy - NYTimes.com" -- Interesting distinction... http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/economics-offers-tactics-not-strategy/ "Comics for Economics" http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/comic-for-economics/ 'As noted in our news article, corporate profits reached a record last quarter, at least in nominal terms" http://

Gaming the Vote

2010-11-17T23:01:00.000-08:00

I have been taking a course on Choice/Voting theory, Arrow's theory, etc. and ran into this book, Gaming the Vote, discussing the benefits of Range Voting, e.g. each Voter gives each, or some of the, candidate{s} a "value", say from 0 to 5, and the winning candidate is the one with the largest total . The author indicates that this is a better voting system (at least statistically) than the

economy and budget Nov, 2010

2010-11-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

June 22-23, 2010 -- Federal Reserve Banks ... submitted projections for output growth, unemployment, and inflation for the years 2010 to 2012 and over the longer run. Economic projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, June 2010 Percent Variable Central tendency1 Range2 2010

Law-268

2010-09-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

The following are some articles that I though might be interested for the Law-268 class that I am taking at Stanford. (mllive) Week 2 -- Constitutional InterpretationThe perils of constitution-worship also [blog] -- One of the guiding principles of the tea-party movement is based on a myth (Economist Sep 23rd 2010 ) Week ? -- Election law

Hints

2010-08-10T20:20:00.001-07:00

Google ReaderNext: Shift-A (Mark all read), Shift-N (Next Folder), Shift-O (Open)

14th ammendment

2010-08-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

Amendment XIV, Section 1, Clause 1:All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.In Wong Kim Ark (169 U.S. 649 (1898)) the Supreme Court held that under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a man born within the United States to foreigners (in that case, Chinese

Free Enterprise fundamentalists

2010-07-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Free Enterprise fundamentalists theorize that:The Free Enterprise system optimizes a society's economic welfare and therefore any other economic system is sub-optimal and is less beneficial.===== I believe that there are a number of questions:1) Which type of Free Enterprise system?Fe.0 - Anarchy - There is no government involvement in the economic system, i.e. no protection for

Political Urban Legends

2010-06-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

There are a number of political statements, Urban Legends, that are believed that seem to be unsupported by any facts.Conservative CanardsThe Chinese are drilling in the gulf of Mexico (PolitiFact 2010)GOP claim about Chinese oil drilling off Cuba is untrue and (Mother Jones 2008)Cheney Admits Mistake in Claim of China Drilling Near FloridaLiberal Lies___________________________Also see:About

Subscription benefits

2010-05-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Many WEB sites and News sources are trying to find out how to balance the material that they should offer free and that which they should only offer to their subscribers. My standard suggestion is that anyone should be able to link to your information, and add direct comments, but a subscriber should also be able to: 1) Go directly to the information without going through an Ad Wall. 2)

Paradoxes

2010-05-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

The 20-th century was the "No you Can't" century in which there were a number of Paradoxes that were discovered that "proved" that not all things were possible.Physics. Relativity -- Large PhysicsNo material partical can be accellorated to the speed of light.The Speed of light is a constant and is not observed to be changed no matter the speed of the observer.There is no absolute space frame, e.g

Competitive Democracy

2010-04-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

I am taking a course in Models of Democracy and leading the session on Competitive Democracy. As part of this I wrote a set of Class notes via Google Docs, and posted it on the web. The problem is that they generate a long URL, so I thought it would help to put it in this Blog post to make it easy to get to. The notes are linked to the title of this post and also from the following:Competitive

Wingnuts

2010-02-15T10:04:00.000-08:00

WingnutsA new book "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America (Paperback) ~ John Avlon (Author)", describes the ideas and people that the author feels are "A wingnut is someone on the far-right or far-left wing of the political spectrum – professional partisans, unhinged activists, and paranoid conspiracy theorists". As this may be a subjective evalution, I am looking

Working across the Isle

2010-02-07T01:50:00.000-08:00

In the spirit or working across the isle I note some suggestions that might be interesting.Schedule monthly 2 hour open, Televised, sessions between the president and the legislators in which they could discuss the issues and proposals that are important to them and the country. There is a first report, "John Cornyn: No thanks to President Obama Q & A" that it may be difficult to establish

The government is not working

2010-01-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

Often I say, and hear "The Government is not Working" and was challenged at to what I meant and how to improve it.The easy definition, with I will reject, is that "The Government is not doing what I want it to do". This Subjective definition just leads to saying that one doesn't like the results, in general does not like some specific action.The definition that I'd like to explore is based on

Rational, Natural

2010-01-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

The terms "Rational" and {Super}Natural have been brought up in a discussion, and I realize that often there are diferent understandings.Rational == Logical and VerifiableLogical = There are a set of understood first principals, e.g. Axioms that are, at least for discussion assumed. and then conclusions are derived from them by applying standard FORMAL logic, Math, etc.Verifiable = The

iPhone world factbook, atlas

2010-01-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

iPhone world factbook, atlas2010 World Factbook $0.99 (4.5/5) -- geographies, economies, populations, and militaries of more than 250 nations and territories spanning the globe. -- Maps, Facts, Ranks (w - Fuzzy Peach LLC [tbd])The World Factbook 2010 $0.99 (w - jDictionary)

iPhone Sound Meters

2009-12-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Sound MetersSonic Scan $0.99, rate:3.0 -- Displays sound pressure level [decibel] and frequency [Hertz] of sound in your environment. Features: Graph Sound Level, Frequency == Zero Crossings.Digital Sound Meter $0.99, rate:2.5 -- Display of the average and peak levels with a bargraph and with a numeric LCD display.dBMeter Pro $2.99, rate:3.0 -- General This application can be used to measure

Knowledge Space

2009-12-23T09:24:00.001-08:00

It seems to me that it is convenient to categorize human knowledge in a 2-d space rather than along a 1-d line or a 0-d choice, This is inspired by Rumsfield quote:"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t

iphone apps

2009-12-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

There are a number of sites, (services) that allow one to get access to the applications for the iPhone/iTouch. This list started from the Winter 2010 issue of iPhoneLife magazine (Weekly Update Newsletter).Apple ServicesOn iPhone, iPhoneLive app -- WEB Browser // Plus // Add to Home Screen (or Bookmarks)On iPhone, iPhone genius -- App store, // Featured // GeniusApps for Everything -- Once

Free Enterprise theory

2009-12-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

The conditions for a market/economy to be a Free Enterprise Economy that can be proven to be "Efficient" are:There are many competing suppliers (consumers) such that none of them can effectively individually, or do conspire to set prices in the market.There are no Economies of Scale, e.g. the Incremental cost of production does not decrease as the number produced increases. (I think that it must

Economic Theorists

2009-12-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

Adam Smith -FE- 1723-1790 (page 26): The Wealth of Nations - 1776John Stuart Mill -FE - (page 33): Principals of Political Economy - 1848Ludwig van Mises -FE- (page 29): Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis - 1922John Maynard Kaynes -WE-: Theory of Money - 1930, General theory of Employment, Interest and Money - 1936Friedrich Hayek -FE- (page 29): Prices and Production - 1931 (

Free Market Capitalism (def)

2009-12-06T14:41:00.001-08:00

A Free market, Competitive economy, is one in which there are a number of suppliers, and consumers, each of which can not, does not, signifficantly set the price for the "thing".Adam Smith (1776) - theorized that specialization lead to efficiency and that Free Markets could coordinate the supply of goods to allow specialization of function., thus raising living standards (page 28)The theory was

Market (def)

2009-12-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

A Market is simply [a real or virtual set of 1] somewhere[s] [physical, virtual, or other conceptual 2] things are bought [traded 3] and sold. (page 26),1] Assumed, the somewhere can be also virtual and can consist of a set of interrelated single markets.2] Things can be generalized to other than physical objects such as intelectual property, songs, software...3] Similarly bought and sold can be

Economic charts/graphs and discussions

2009-07-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

The following are some sites that generate Charts/Graphs, on , or discuss the Economic situation. 12/07/2009 Charts and GraphicsDshort.com gives me {Doug Short. a retired first wave boomer with a Ph.D. in English from Duke. } a chance to combine several interests — economics, web design, and pro-bono financial counseling. I'm also a contributor to the Motley Fool Rule Your Retirement

Political Interaction sites

2009-05-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

There are a growing number of sites that allow use, the citizens to "help" interact with our political leaders. The following is a list of these,Set priorities of the AdminstrationWhite House 2 lets you set your own priorities for the United StatesDevelop you own billsOpen Government -- This online brainstorming session, open from May 21st to 28th, 2009, will enable the White House to hear your

HealthCareUS-3

2009-05-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

1) VOUCHERS -- Each person gets a yearly voucher to pay for the actuarial cost of their basic Health Care that can be used to purchase Health Insurance from any conforming health care insurance vendor.The actuarial cost = The median cost based on the risk factors, e.g. Age, Weight, Gender... for the person and the area in which the person lives, to provide the health care for that individualA

National Sunshine

2009-02-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Promote national sunshine (Preliminary) 0.1Resolved: Until all Bills, Amendments, and Laws are posted days before they are discussed, voted on, or signed, I will contribute $4.00 a month to the opposition.Background: The current national administration and representatives had committed that they would not take action on laws until they were posted 2-5 days on the internet. This commitment has

HealthCareUS

2008-12-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

Health care1) - Vouchers -- Provide Health Care insurance vouchers for every American, roughly $5,000 to allow them to purchase a basic coverage.1) Details -- The vouchers will be set at a level so that they will pay for the cost of providing treatment at median costs for all the procedures that are authorized. Of course this coverage is for basic treatment and does not cover all possible

Firefox Add-on (1)

2007-11-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

Social & ComminicationsStumbleUpon lets you "channelsurf" the best-reviewed sies on the web. It is a collaborative surfing tool for finding and sharing great sites.iMacros was designed to automate the most repetitious tasks on the web. If there’s an activity you have to do repeatedly, just record it in iMacros. The next time you need to do it, the entire macro will run at the click of a button!

HealthCare

2007-08-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

Objectives of a Health Care system (HCS)Universal "critical" treatment -- There are a number of deseases/treatments that we, as a society do not want to have un-treated, either because not treating them is not compasient or because not treating them will probably harm society. The HCS should ensure that these are treated.Take advantage of Market for Pricing and Selection -- The Free Enterprise

Powered Kick Scooter

2007-08-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Go-Ped ($470.00 - $800.00)CustomStreetToys -- 25710 Industrial blvd # 1Hayward, CA 94545Phone: (510)785-4805E-mail: customstreettoyz@sbcglobal.netNeo Scooters makes it easy to compare gas scooters in feature and price with our easy to read chart.Xtreme ($280.00 - $380.00)Best Scooter Buys -- Xtreme and ScooterX (Compare and Order)Green Motor co $2,600.00 - $3,200.00 (near Halted,

Iraq-New-Way

2007-07-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

There are certain things that the United States could do to make it more effective in Iraq.Re-deploy its troops, decreasing those in Europe and Asia so that the Surge in Iraq could continue with the troops that are freed up from the rest of the world.Repatriate the first time, non-violent war prisoners and the dead to their country of origin and keep track of their number.Request that defense

US Military expansion

2006-12-20T12:49:00.000-08:00

"Facts" (CSJ)Army has an authorized strength of some 514,000 troops, with about 30,000 of that total a temporary rise approved by Congress in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The Marine Corps has 180,000 personnel.700,000 National Guard and Army reservists, as of Jan 2004 -- Size of Military (PBS)Each increment of 10,000 soldiers added to the Army costs just a tick over $1 billionIt would take at

Church (state) benefits

2006-12-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Churches are automatically tax-exempt without the requirement of filing an Application for Tax Exempt Status (Form 1023). While other 501(c)(3) entities must report their financial status, activities, and compensation paid to directors and officers on an Annual

single-payer

2006-03-18T14:42:00.000-08:00

We are developing a discussion as to how to improve the US Health system. This discussion is motivated by the recognition that the cost Health care is increasing while it is still not structured so that some people are able to get it provided to them in a cost, and results benefit way. (The poorer and un-insured are able to get their treatment through the emergency system but only after their

Abortion

2006-02-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

Those of us who are "Right to Choose"rs do not force females to have abortions, but don't want them to have their choices reduced by having the law between them, their conscious, their doctor... Of course, I do realize that the "Right to Life"rs feel that the female, in choosing is killing another and thus it is reasonable to have the law involved.What I suggest is that if we want to "understand"

medical

2006-02-23T15:27:00.000-08:00

Mayo Clinic -Over the counter Pain Medication -Symptom Checker -Palo Alto Medical Center - (Long) (Ususal)##InBoxOutBoxWebMD help consumers take an active role in managing their health by providing objective healthcare and lifestyle informationKosmix Health Search --

reform

2006-01-20T14:56:00.000-08:00

We will be seeing lots of discussion about reform of the Congress The Abramoff Scandal Newt Gingridge Dueling reform packages only cosmetic (Capital Hill Blue) Government Ethics and Election Reform (Public Citizen) The Democratic Plan for Honest Leadership and Open Government, U.S. Sen. Feingold [S. 1398, the Lobbying and Ethics Reform Act (pdf)]

google

2006-01-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

Google has been requested, and is resisting, provinding searches and ip addresses to the Justice departments. The original subpoena, originally signed on August 25, 2005 Court Documents & Summary Of US Versus Google Over Search Data (Search Engine Watch) United States vs. Google Jan 18, 2006 (pdf) Declaration Of Joel McElvain -- a declaration by Government attorney, the lead attorney

supreme court

2006-01-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

The "Assisted Suicide" decision of the supreme court can be looked at a number of ways. [Slate] [wsj] I suggest that there are a number of levels upon which the court can decide a case and that if the court decides the law is illegal on one level, then it makes no judgement on the case at "lower levels" Stare Decisis (wikipedia) -- The decision was already made in a similar case and should not

computer_stores

2005-12-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

Palo Alto area (Surplus) Halted Specialties Co electronic supply [contact] -- 3500 Ryder Street Santa Clara, California 95051 [map] Surplus computers -- 1600 Duane Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95054 [map]WeirdStuff -- 384 W. Caribbean Dr, Sunnyvale, CA [map] [WebCam] Links: UCLA report on "A Measure of Media Bias" (doc)Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist Former fellows at

legalities

2005-12-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

In the past few days there have been some actions of the country that may, or may not be Legal or Desirable. This is a set of links to the discussions of them.A) Domestic Wiretapping -- The NYT has reported that after Sept 11 the NSA (not a subgroup within the CIS) has started to 'wiretap' communications between US citizens (or to and from US locations) and Foreigners without getting

redistricting

2005-12-11T17:18:00.000-08:00

A congressional bill setting standards for redistricting all states objectively at the same time: H.R. 2642 and 4094 -- Already more than 60 U.S. House Members have signed onto such bills introduced this year by Congressman John Tanner and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. The Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act of 2005 , H.R. 2642, 109th Congress -- Rep. John Tanner, 05/25/2005 CoSponsors

products

2005-12-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

Nokia 1100 (SpeakOut) Cell Phone User GuideAccessories (CellPhoneShop) Sony SFR-M37V Radio ~$35.00 -- FM/AM/Weather/TV Radio Walkman with 25 Memory Presets Amazon User Manual Truly,net MP301 (256K) MP3 Player User's Guide for MP301Software (Downloads) SOFTWARE 46 Best free software for Windows XP

turnover

2005-11-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

I have put "my" proposal for an "centerist" Iraq Turnover plan in Gillmor's Blog. It proposes: Stay thru the end of this year, 2005 Train and equip about 20,000 Iraq troops/month (withdraw 1:2 of our troops) Withdraw as the Iraq provines determine (and perhaps faster) Commit to TOTAL withdrawal, and contract re-negotiation Pay about $2 b/month until we are withdrawn for reconstruction

privacy

2005-11-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

Summary of Privacy Taxonomy (LawMeme) A Taxonomy of Privacy ( 970K pdf ) Dan SoloveThe Constitution's Private Parts, (Reason) Can I Get a Little Privacy? DAN SAVAGE (New York Times) Fact and Fiction on Evolution: Intelligent design's five favorite myths (Reason) Instant Expert: Evolution (New Scientist)Idea of the Week: Respecting Science (DLC anti position) The Flawed Philosophy of

Alito decisions

2005-11-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

What the Alito Nomination Means for Constitutional Law(Balkinization) (FindLaw) (TmpCage) (Wikipedia) Abortion rights 3/4 Pro aborton, Alito's unequivocal (anti) abortion decisions. (Slate)Civil rights (Washington Post 11/03/05) Corporate decisions (Bloomberg News 11/03/05)Deadly Force Against Unarmed Teenager Was Reasonable 1984 (LA Times), (TalkLeft), (Slate), (Supreme court watch)

wealth

2005-10-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Business week has a chart of the US "Houshold" wealth: Real Net Household Wealth Hits a New HighDistribution of Wealth (Page 7/8 of pdf) Top % 1 5 10 20Total net worth held 30 54 67 81 Since I was suggesting we consider taxing Wealth, rather than, or partially in replacement for, income, as more accuratly reflecting the social benefit

headstart

2005-10-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Asymmetrical Information, in "Does IQ Matter", feels that Head Start programs are not very useful and points to the study of the more "effective" program, " is useless, and even expensive interventions like the Perry pre-school project produced results that are distinctly disappointing from a cognitive perspective.Of course the conclusions are debatable, the conclusion of the Perry project was:

postcast

2005-09-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

Podcast feeds Public Radio Podcasts Podcast readers Ipodder Itunes Feedreader

wiki

2005-09-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

There are a number of "general" structures of sites.Hierical sites -- Yes I know that all sites are hierical, but the original set of sites were generally relatively static with a main page, sub pages, etc.Blogs, Mailing lists -- e.g. linear sites -- Information is stored at the top, with the possibility of comments, fixed link out-pointers...Forums -- generally 2 level comment areas with

project-censored

2005-09-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Bush Administration Moves to Eliminate Open Government Media Coverage Fails on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Deathtoll Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia The Real Oil for Food Scam Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood Iraqi Farmers

Links-09

2005-09-09T01:51:00.000-07:00

Liberals vs Conservatives? -- (Angry Bear [liberal]) Internet users are better informed about political issues that non-users are. (Dee-Log) a) Transactional vs Transformational (Joe Trippi) TransActional -- Tit for TatTransFormational -- Things will change Katrina Timeline (ThinkProgress)DailyKos commentsRight Wing Nut House Political Issues Snarled Plans for Military Help After

ChangeThis

2005-09-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

16.01 Why Smart People Defend Bad Ideas The problem with smart people is that they like to be right and sometimes will defend ideas to the death rather than admit they’re wrong.Why smart people defend bad ideas -- By Scott Berkun, April 2005 15.03 Let's Rewrite the Constitution to Deal With Organizations Art Kleiner suggest that organizations are where all of the power lies today and

democratic

2005-09-01T23:58:00.000-07:00

Populist Economy -- e.g. run the economic system for the average and less well off rather than the wealthy. Individual morality -- e.g. permit the people and families to manage their own moreality rather than determining the socially acceptable morality by the government. Belief in the Common good in addition to the invisible hand of unregulated free enterprise.Democratic

israel

2005-08-28T01:39:00.000-07:00

The "history" of israel can be shown thru maps, and associated written material. The two comments linked below are: History of Israel and Palestine in VERY Easy To Understand Maps: "There has never been a civilization or a nation referred to as "Palestine" and the very notion of a "Palestinian Arab nation" having ancient attachments to the Holy Land going back to time immemorial is one of the

links-24

2005-08-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yet another set of links that have no organization, but that I want to save. What's wrong with the Kansas science standards?Equal Time -- No tax-exempt status for churches that refuse to distribute pro-evolution propaganda! By Christopher Hitchens (slate) The Great Debate -- Best of the Fray hosts a six-part series on ID.Compiled by Kevin Arnovitz (slate)McCain Comes Out For Teaching "

Florida

2005-08-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

A friend has pointed out the two columns by Krugman on the 2000 Florida recount, See Comment 1)This is a set of links to the various sites that might be useful in discussing this. Florida election recount (Wikipedia) Gore won Florida (Democrats.com)Who Won the Election? Who Cares? -- Florida recount consortium muffles results of months of efforts, (Extra! 2002)Paul Krugman’s outrageous

questions

2005-08-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Roberts once wrote:the personal beliefs of judicial candidates do not matter because "their ideology should have no role in the decisional process," (News Hounds)Questions for Roberts Sen. Charles Schumer 20 , (Right Voices comment) Dallas Morning News 5 People for the American Way 20, (from DailyKos) Reason 7 Discussion of reasonable questions: WeMatter.com Which topics are

pleadings

2005-08-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

U.S. Supreme Court Audio peadings and [case text] (of Roberts) United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435 (1989)Wilder v. Virginia Hospital Assn., 496 U.S. 498 (1990) -- [case] Bray v. Alexandria Clinic, 506 U.S. 263 (1993) Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1 (1992) Helling v. McKinney, 509 U.S. 25 (1993) From:FindLaw > Cases and Codes > Supreme Court OpinionsOffical Supreme court site -- Oyaz site >

activist-

2005-08-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

Objective Criteria (resources) Still trying to get a set of OBJECTIVE definitions of Judicial decisions: It seems to me that any decision can be 1 of 8 outcomes based on which "side" won and which lost, Constitution WON, Federal law lost Constitution WON, State law lost Federal law WON, State law lost Constitution lost, Federal law WON Constitution lost, State law WON Federal law lost

pa-ftth

2005-07-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

This is a place for people to discuss the proposal to have the City of Palo Alto be involved in a Fiber to the Home. (Note: I am in favor of the FTTH imvolvement, but will add links as people tell me of either side)See:WeMatter.com ftth discussion july 2004 -- I can update this, but there are links to other sites that are more up to date.Palo Alto Weekly articles on FTTHHigh-speed Internet

access

2005-07-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

"Phone company blocks access to telecoms union's website"On first read, this is the type of action that I think needs to be covered by the FCC and legislated as part of our Internet, Telecommunication acts.We need to assure that: Areas that are not served by high speed internet access at costs that the citizens would be willing to pay, both directly and perhaps through their taxes can be served

judgements

2005-07-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Now that we have a supreme court nominee we want to consider how to judge him:His opinions in NON UNANIMOUS decisionsHis opinionsNew York Times analysisHis "work" affiliationsHis positions (as employee)His supporters/opponentsIn addition we could consider that he would be a Thomas, Scalia type judge. This means we want to look at how the court is currently organized and what decisions would be

Links-10

2005-07-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

Remodeling the political spectrum, a 3d model of political choice.(Kuro5hin) The real question before the court, Greatness vs Goodness (July 10, 2005 Boston Globs) O'Connor departure may alter redistricting law (July 7, 2005 USNews)Conservative/Liberal information networks (April 27, 2005. AlterNet) The Emerging Progressive Media NetworkThe Conservative Media Machine Decline in the

timetable

2005-07-07T02:14:00.000-07:00

I am updating the subject of this as Iraq is our country:1) Iraq is starting to want us out!As of July, 4, 2005, over 37% (103/275) of the The Iraqi National Assembly has proposed the adoption of a resolution: 1) cancelling the request made by the Government to the UN Security Council to extend the presence of multinational forces, and2) urging the Government to put “a clear plan for army

activist

2005-07-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

There are a number of things one may OBJECTIVELY say about a supreme court decision, in addition to saying things that just indicate whether one is in favor or against the decision.1) Constitutionist -- e.g. Pro: if the decision overturns the law because of the constitution, Anti: if the law is upheld despite the constitutional challenge. -- Note: In general this is also Anti/Pro originist and

candidates

2005-07-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

The following are some possible Supreme Court nomineesBrown, Judge Janice Rogers SCTN , Clement, Judge Edith Brown SCTN , Jones, Judge Edith Hollan SCTN , Gonzales, Attorney General Alberto SCTN , The top runner's position on abortion (Slate)SCTN = SctNomination.comMy Prediction 7/4/2005As far as I can see the only question is whether the group of 14 decide to over-ride the Filibuster.1) Bush

greenhouse

2005-06-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

A comment (media matters.com) on the graph of the WSJ -- It's old and early measurements, as I indicated are rough. Variations of the Earth's surface Temp... 1000 to year 2100 (Obviously 2000+ are projections) Raw? data , 2001 reports (intergovernmental panel of climate change ) The feverish WSJ (The washington monthly) The Wall Street Journal vs. The Scientific Consensus

factoid

2005-06-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

There are a large number of things people believe that either can be uantifiable or are mistaken. The following will state the true version of these. The recidivism rate of sex offenders was 3.5% ... a lower reoffense rate of almost any other type of crime (BJS: 5.3% arrested) , (Hawai'i: 2.3-5.7%) , Others higher See: Internet ScamBusters Helps You Protect Yourself From Clever Scams

second

2005-06-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

F.D.R. proposed to start working on passing the "Second Bill of Rights". It is evident that they would not be passed today, and perhaps should not be, but as a taking point, I wonder what would happen if these were passed, as negative rights, e.g. What laws, regulations... would actually be in VIOLATION to them?The proposed rights are: "The right to..." A useful and remunerative job; Earn

pa-term

2005-06-12T16:48:00.000-07:00

The Palo Alto city council is considering extending the term limits of its members from 2 terms to 3. As I have been thinking about the problem of incumbency, I am opening this Blog entry to discuss the Palo Alto Term Limit proposal, and perhaps my own proposal for "gentle" limits:My initial proposal is that there be no hard term limits but that it be harder and harder for incumbents to keep

unmatch

2005-06-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

The funding for PBS is proposed to be decreased from $400m to $300, and the president of PBS is suspected as a strong conservative.If PBS continues to be funded, even 25% by the Federal government, then it will be open for funding cuts and changes in objectives, so I propose that the viewers take over the portion of the funding that the government is now supplying and the management, and thus its