ETEXT (political) Archives were founded in the Summer of 1992 in response to the lack of organized archiving of political documents, periodicals and discussions disseminated via Usenet on newsgroups such as alt.activism, misc.activism.progressive, and alt.society.anarchy. The alt.politics.radical-left group came later.
Eyes, Opening Up the Russian Doll, part2 -- The eye has always had a special place in the study of evolution,
Good news for creationists Ha!! -- Since the front door of the scientific establishment is clearly open to you, as demonstrated by the eventual acceptance of the Pangaea hypothesis,- you have no excuse for trying to sneak in the back door, by using political pressure to insert your views into science textbooks.
Liberal affars, debate club (archive) brings together a pair of experts to discuss a pressing legal question. In daily exchanges, they develop arguments, test ideas, and shape opinions.
2/20/2005
2/13/2005
links-13
Digital Rights, Digital Wrongs By Jerry Pournelle -- Byte August 16, 2004
Interpreting The Constitution -- Feb 10, 2005 -- 'When the Senate holds judicial nomination hearings, there are often fierce debates over how to interpret the Constitution. What are these battles really about?' ( Chicago Public Radio audio stream ).
Here is another "Escape from a locked room" game. from: mahalanobis
It’s My Party Too is a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally conservative, socially progressive moderate Republican candidates at all levels of government.
Strange political ideas -- what are the most expensive government programs? -- February 10, 2005
Tech Support -- 16 best-ever freeware. -- November 2004.
Microsoft Research DRM talk , Cory Doctorow cory@eff.org -- June 17, 2004 PDF Version
Interpreting The Constitution -- Feb 10, 2005 -- 'When the Senate holds judicial nomination hearings, there are often fierce debates over how to interpret the Constitution. What are these battles really about?' ( Chicago Public Radio audio stream ).
Here is another "Escape from a locked room" game. from: mahalanobis
It’s My Party Too is a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally conservative, socially progressive moderate Republican candidates at all levels of government.
Strange political ideas -- what are the most expensive government programs? -- February 10, 2005
Tech Support -- 16 best-ever freeware. -- November 2004.
2/07/2005
good-gov
There is some discussion that Iraq may not be moving toward a "Good Government". Without taking a side on this discussion, I suggest we should determine how we measure whether a country is Good or not. I sent the following to the author of:
Iraq and Iran
What I would like to see is the development of a set of criteria so that as
time proceeds we can measure the Iraq government, and others, against them.
e.g.
Others?
The Case for Democracy: Town Square society -- Not Fear society.
Iraq and Iran
What I would like to see is the development of a set of criteria so that as
time proceeds we can measure the Iraq government, and others, against them.
e.g.
- Competition -- There is a "reasonable" degree of un-certaincy in the
outcome of elections.
- Government supremacy -- The elected/appointed Government is supreme and
no other group has veto power over it.
- No State Religion -- There is no specific religious test, requirement,
etc. in the law that favors any religion over another. (Note: We may extend
this to not favoring religion over say agnostics)
- Bill of Rights -- There are guaranteed rights that specify the limits of
the Government that are extensive and can only be changed by a lengthy
super-majority process.
- Rule of Law -- The property and liberty of individuals is protected
against government actions except through the open action of the
governmentally authorized agencies as they follow clearly stated legal
structures.
- Free enterprise -- Individuals can participate in economic interactions
without "significant" involvement by the Government.
Others?
The Case for Democracy: Town Square society -- Not Fear society.
- Free societies are societies in which the right of dissent is protected. In contrast, fear societies are societies in which dissent is banned. One can determine whether a society is free by applying what we call the “town-square test.” Can someone within that society walk into the town square and say what they want without fear of being punished for his or her views? If so, then that society is a free society. If not, it is a fear society.
Budget-07
The proposed Bush Budget for 2006 is being released. $427B debt est. As time passes, there will be a number of comments on it. I hope that there is a discussion of it. My proposal is to have a fully functional Forum and Poll area that allows the development of both a Lean budget and a Fully Funded budget. (overview) (Tables)
Off budget items
. 1) The "Lean" budget would be a small as the Bush budget, but decrease some of the expenses and increase others to fund the programs that are better funded.
. 2) The "Fully Funded" budget would have the same debit as the Bush budget, but in addition to different funding of various programs it would also permit elimination of some of the tax give-backs to provide more money.
Links:
Other:
Off budget items
- Costs of War
- Change in Alternate Minimum Tax?
- Effect of making tax cuts permanent
- Effect of modifying Social Security
- Effect of tax "simplification"
. 1) The "Lean" budget would be a small as the Bush budget, but decrease some of the expenses and increase others to fund the programs that are better funded.
. 2) The "Fully Funded" budget would have the same debit as the Bush budget, but in addition to different funding of various programs it would also permit elimination of some of the tax give-backs to provide more money.
Links:
- The Bush Budget Reflects The GOP's True Moral Values - Or Lack Of Them, -- The Left Coaster
A head fake, not a flip-flop. -- I would strongly caution everyone to interpret the news of massive cuts to farm subsidies in the president's budget proposal very, very skeptically. -- American Prospect
Bush's budget -- A brief overview of these cuts -- Daily Kos
- Analysis 2006 United States Federal Budget (proposed) From dKosopedia, the free political encyclopedia.
Other:
- The Liberal Agenda by The Readers of The American Prospect -- We’re taking suggestions: What does liberalism stand for?
It is stated that it is not true that "in theory the higher returns in private accounts would offset any benefit cuts."
2/06/2005
Links-06
State of the Union 2005: Reality Check -- Posted: 02/03/05, American Prospective
Thinking with Type, (on-line companion to book): A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students, by Ellen Lupton
Pay or Free?: Newspaper Archives Not Ready for Open Web...Yet -- By Mark Glaser, 2005-02-01, Online Journalism Review, a Web-based journal produced at the Annenberg School for Communication
A Fair and Simple Tax System for our Future: A Progressive Approach to Tax Reform, January 31, 2005
Thinking with Type, (on-line companion to book): A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students, by Ellen Lupton
Pay or Free?: Newspaper Archives Not Ready for Open Web...Yet -- By Mark Glaser, 2005-02-01, Online Journalism Review, a Web-based journal produced at the Annenberg School for Communication
A Fair and Simple Tax System for our Future: A Progressive Approach to Tax Reform, January 31, 2005
2/04/2005
ss-04
Social Security links/Questions.
Disability? As I read it, 10% of the money people normally pay for SS actually goes into Disability insurance etc. I wonder how this is handled with respect to Personal accounts. If a person takes 66% of his personal SS taxes for his personal account, does this mean that his disability payments will be decreased accordingly?
Annuity? We know that if a person chooses a personal account, their SS benefits will be decreased, though the exact figure is TBD. On the other hand is their personal account their own money, or do they have to purchase an annuity?, thus effectively only allowing them to have, as their own money, the "profit" of the account.
----------------- Other Links ---------------
Observed Impacts of Global Climate Change in the U.S. -- Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Nov 2004
Fear of Physics -- friendly, non-technical place for you to come and "play" with the laws of physics for a while
Way Back Machine -- Internet archive
Understanding The Bush Plan -- Matt Yglesias
TSR - Thrift Savings Plan -- government info page.
- As I read it, the TSRs are similar to the ADD ON accounts that we now have, e.g. 401Ks. Thus are not examples of the Bush "personal" accounts.
Some simple questions on Social Security -- leftwing view of the day's news
Did Bush say Crisis? -- The Social Security system will take in more money annually than it pays out in benefits until 2020, two years later than earlier estimated,... Congress' budget analysts also estimated the program's trust funds will be depleted in 2052, (10 years after earlier estimated)
Myths v. Realities on social security in the United States -- eriposte.com
Disability? As I read it, 10% of the money people normally pay for SS actually goes into Disability insurance etc. I wonder how this is handled with respect to Personal accounts. If a person takes 66% of his personal SS taxes for his personal account, does this mean that his disability payments will be decreased accordingly?
Annuity? We know that if a person chooses a personal account, their SS benefits will be decreased, though the exact figure is TBD. On the other hand is their personal account their own money, or do they have to purchase an annuity?, thus effectively only allowing them to have, as their own money, the "profit" of the account.
----------------- Other Links ---------------
Observed Impacts of Global Climate Change in the U.S. -- Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Nov 2004
Fear of Physics -- friendly, non-technical place for you to come and "play" with the laws of physics for a while
Way Back Machine -- Internet archive
1/27/2005
demo-plat
The democrats are in the process of working to develop their "core" issues/positions. The sites that I ahve discovered on this are:
- Stand Up Democrats are collecting ideas from December 14th through January 14th. We will take the best 100 ideas and submit it to the new Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman and to every Democratic U.S. Senator, Member of Congress and Governor.
- "Co-Sponsor the Senate Democrat's Opposition Agenda"
A more organized, aggressive Senate caucus kos Jan 25th, 2005 at 11:13:11 PST- Senate Bill 11: Standing With Our Troops.
- Senate Bill 12: Targeting the Terrorists More Effectively.
- Senate Bill 13: Fulfilling Our Duty to America’s Veterans.
- Senate Bill 14: Expanding Economic Opportunity.
- Senate Bill 15: Quality Education for All.
- Senate Bill 16: Making Health Care More Affordable.
- Senate Bill 17: Democracy Begins at Home.
- Senate Bill 18: Meeting Our Responsibility to Medicare Beneficiaries.
- Senate Bill 20: Putting Prevention First.
- Senate Democrats coordinate message, attack on Bush -- Rick Klein, Globe Staff | January 25, 2005
- Senate Bill 11: Standing With Our Troops.
- Questions for DNC MoveOn.org -- Currently at 700+ submitted...
- Remarks by Governor Howard Dean Accepting the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee -- Feb 12, 2005
1/24/2005
hubble
- Link to MSNBC "The fight for Hubble’s life begins anew" -- As of now 76% of those responding were in favor of keeping the Hubble alive
07/13/2004 NASA urges that NASA commit to a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope that accomplishes the objectives of the originally planned SM-4
12/08/2004 Space Shuttle Should Conduct Final Servicing Mission To Hubble Space Telescope
01/16/2005 NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced his decision to call off ... Servicing Mission 4" -- Hubble's Future, HubbleSite NewsCenter
- Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope: Final Report (2005) -- Space Studies Board, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board
- NASA should commit to a servicing mission to the Hubble...
- NASA (should) pursue a shuttle servicing mission...
- A robotic mission should be pursued solely to de-obrit Hubble...
. 1) Does NASA have any estimates of the cost, risk, and probable success of repairing it, via robots or humans? -- NASA seems to feel that a human effort is justified and should be done
. 2) Is NASA determining that it is not cost/risk effective to repair it, if their funding is not increased as expected, or is this a determination by the White House -- It seems that the decision to kill the Hubble is that of the administration not NASA
. 3) If it is a NASA determination, then what are their other priorities so that we could decide if they are right in their priorities and how much more would they need to decide that the repair was justified?
. 4) Would there be some way to set up a Charity that would pay NASA to repair the Hubble? (I assume that "1)" would tell us what we would need to put into it), and if we were able to do so would the government and NASA accept the money or is this decision a Done Deal, and not about money
Statement Of Senator Mikulski On Necessity Of Hubble Servicing Mission -- contact her
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said she expects the U.S. space agency to heed the will of the Congress and keep preparations for a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission on track
Updates:
- Budget rumours hint at Hubble trouble 18:41 24 January 2005 NewScientist.com news service
Blogs
- Mark A. R. Kleiman -- Killing Hubble
uggabugga -- Hubble update:
1/23/2005
optout
Opt-out or Ownership society
One way of looking at the Left/Right conflict is whether a person is concerned with helping the least amoung us or advancing the society as a whole. There are plenty of ways of expressing this, and of course mine may not be appropriate.
The "World's Smallest Political Quiz" seems to me to be a way to characterize the general orentation of people, positions, parties. This suggests that there are two dimentions in American's political life, e.g. Peresonal and Economic , and that people can want to have the government be involved in neither, either or one and not the other.
The following are some currently interesting articles from the Left opposed to Bush's Ownership Society
On the other hand, there are some currently interesting articles from the Right in favor of Bush's Ownership Society.
Finally there are a set of subscriber accessable articles in the Economist that discuss the meaning and failure of Corporate Social Responsibility, The Good Company. The conclusion is:
One way of looking at the Left/Right conflict is whether a person is concerned with helping the least amoung us or advancing the society as a whole. There are plenty of ways of expressing this, and of course mine may not be appropriate.
The "World's Smallest Political Quiz" seems to me to be a way to characterize the general orentation of people, positions, parties. This suggests that there are two dimentions in American's political life, e.g. Peresonal and Economic , and that people can want to have the government be involved in neither, either or one and not the other.
The following are some currently interesting articles from the Left opposed to Bush's Ownership Society
The Opt Out Society: The GOP Threat to National Unity and the American Social Contract -- the Perrspectives, June 15, 2003
Cheers For Bush's Ownership Society: Robert B. Reich's "spin" on how the liberal objectives are actually achieved by a broad ownership society
January 20, 2005
"Corporate Americans" By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. -- Jan 18, 2005. -- Bush's overship society represents a populism born in the Hobbesian belief that we all struggle alone in a world where life is nasty, brutish and short.
On the other hand, there are some currently interesting articles from the Right in favor of Bush's Ownership Society.
Neoconomy -- Daniel Altman explains the intellectual roots of the Bush administration's economic policy {Mother Jones Interview}, {Amazon}
Defining an Ownership Society -- an ownership society values responsibility, liberty, and property -- David Boaz, Cato institute
What Bush Needs to Do: The Ownership Society -- Stephen Bainbridge, Tech Central Station
Finally there are a set of subscriber accessable articles in the Economist that discuss the meaning and failure of Corporate Social Responsibility, The Good Company. The conclusion is:
- All things considered, there is much to be said for leaving social and economic policy to governments. They, at least, are accountable to voters. Managers lack the time for such endeavours, or should do. Lately they have found it a struggle even to discharge their obligations to shareholders, the people who are paying their wages. If they want to make the world a better place—a commendable aim, to be sure—let them concentrate for the time being on that.
1/18/2005
quiz
There are a number of quizzes that are starting to appear:
Winning the Future -- Newt Gingrich's: Where do you stand on the great and growing gap between traditional American values and the secular liberalism of the Left?
Advocates Self Government test, other similar tests, My favorite
- The 40 Question Reality-Based Community Quiz -- A "Right Wing" interpretation of what the "Left" believes
- The 8 questions, "A FEW WEE QUESTIONS" Kevin Drum's, Political Animal,
- Answering 8 Questions from the Right Wing News
- Are you a neoconservative? Take this quiz to find out. Christian Science Monitor (May time bomb out)
1/16/2005
Links-16
America beyond Capitalism Gar Alperovitz’s new book portrayes promising grassroots economic alternatives in the United States and around the world, many have forwarded visions of what an alternative to capitalism might look like, and many have analyzed the recent sharp rightward turn in American politics.
Wikipedia open-source encyclopedia-like reference site that anyone can edit.
Death and Taxes: a graph of where out discretionary budget is spent, by deviantART
Edge Foundation is to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society.
Church-State Separation in the United States: Religion in Public Schools and the Legal/Off-Courtroom Strategies of the Christian Right (One site's opinion) -- eRiposte! A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
- America beyond Capitalization site and audio.video's
- MetaFilter discussion
- Dollars and Sense site
Wikipedia open-source encyclopedia-like reference site that anyone can edit.
- The Wikipedia Debate from Decembrist
- Wikipedia Faces Growing Pains article from WIRED (Jan. 10, 2005)
Death and Taxes: a graph of where out discretionary budget is spent, by deviantART
Edge Foundation is to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society.
- "What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?"
Church-State Separation in the United States: Religion in Public Schools and the Legal/Off-Courtroom Strategies of the Christian Right (One site's opinion) -- eRiposte! A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
1/12/2005
epic
EPIC -- "Dig This: Watch this fascinating, and kind of chilling, 8-minute Flash 'history' of the Internet through 2014" (From PC World)
- [MLL: GREAT idea, slow, 8 min, flash -- Concept highly recommended]
- The police did not need court authorization when tracking Moran from afar. A federal judge in New York ruled last week
- [MLL: I think that this is an un-reasonable invasion of a person's private property, if the society needs to track a person, they should be required to get a warrent and notify the person in a timely mannor, even if use remote direct observation and even more so if they "invade" the person's property]
- Blogifying the DNC on BlogPac,
- [MLL: a Democratic eGovernment site]
- 5 Tips for Buying Consumer Technology Wisely Online -- shopozola
- Search and ye shall find!
- Take someone’s word for it!
- Do your product homework!
- Make sure you get the “total” price.
- Shop on your own time
- TopTenREVIEWS provides a central location for free up-to-date, quality product reviews and additional resources to help the average consumer make educated buying decisions. Our motto: We do the research so you don’t have to™
- Bad Book Covers -- from PunkRockPunguin/waste/entertainment
1/11/2005
Blogs-11
list of blogs that interested me.
List of sites discussing our Economy>
My Comments:
- Ask the White House archive (Chuck Blahous, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, answering questions about Social Security
- Here's a link to the Duelfer Report, just in case you've only read the NYT version. Recommend beginning with the Key Findings document.
Posted by: tbrosz on January 12, 2005 in the Washington monthly.
- The Claremont Institute's Center for Local Government aims to restore republican government at the local level. -- Faith Based, Not Bureaucracy Bound How Religious Institutions Can Fight Government Regulations.
- Moving Ideas, A project of The American Prospect
- Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior, who prefers to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary.
List of sites discussing our Economy>
- The next great battle between socialism and capitalism health care -- Jan 11, 2005 -- Mahalanobis
- Toward a Post Cold-War Political Economy, Elizabeth Anderson -- Jan 9, 2005 -- Left2Right
My Comments:
- A Progressive Framework for Social Security Reform by Gene Sperling, Jan 10, 2004 -- Center for American Progress
- Social Security And Freedom -- Matthew Yglesias
- my SS proposals: Minor Adjustments, 100% matched 401k+, 50% Recovery tax. -- January 11, 2005 07:07 PM
- Social Security link page, Updated WeMatter
- Soft term limits comment on: constitutional amendment from "Really not worth archiving" by Samuel Johnson.
malresult
Thomas Szasz has written in the Reason WEB a proposal that patents be able to purchase "Malresult" insurance. This allows the patients to be compensated for "improbable" bad medical outcoms without having to place blame on the doctor, thus eliminiating the Tort law problems in most cases.
. It looks as though it is a useful proposal.
My thought is that it also allows reasonable pressures "against" bad doctors because:
1) The rates, within a field, could reflect the evaluation of the doctor so that the patient could see which doctors seem to low risk.
2) Since the Malresult insurance company would want to "get its money back" it might try to collect from doctors whose Malpractice caused a bad result. This would mean that one Insurance company might try to collect from another without involving the patient, thus might well be more acceptable as a Free Market activity to the current administration than the current patient Malpractice legal situation.
Note: Slate has now written an article that also discusses the concept of what we have called MalResult insurance:
Malpractice Mess -- Do the Swedes have a faultless fix for the malpractice mess? -- By David Dobbs, (Feb. 22, 2005, Slate)
MORE ON MALPRACTICE....Today comes word of yet another study showing that the rise in medical malpractice premiums has almost nothing to do with an actual increase in malpractice payouts. (July 7, 2005 Washington Monthly)
. It looks as though it is a useful proposal.
My thought is that it also allows reasonable pressures "against" bad doctors because:
1) The rates, within a field, could reflect the evaluation of the doctor so that the patient could see which doctors seem to low risk.
2) Since the Malresult insurance company would want to "get its money back" it might try to collect from doctors whose Malpractice caused a bad result. This would mean that one Insurance company might try to collect from another without involving the patient, thus might well be more acceptable as a Free Market activity to the current administration than the current patient Malpractice legal situation.
Note: Slate has now written an article that also discusses the concept of what we have called MalResult insurance:
Malpractice Mess -- Do the Swedes have a faultless fix for the malpractice mess? -- By David Dobbs, (Feb. 22, 2005, Slate)
MORE ON MALPRACTICE....Today comes word of yet another study showing that the rise in medical malpractice premiums has almost nothing to do with an actual increase in malpractice payouts. (July 7, 2005 Washington Monthly)
1/06/2005
education
It seems to me that one thing all of us can agree about is the value of education/training. The future of our country, and the world depends, at least in part in having the highest educated (trained) individuals and we should try to reduce the barriers and increase the motivation of all our citizens to being educated.
On the other hand, I ran across the following discussion Is Public Education Working? How Would We Know? that suggests that, much as it goes against what we have read, our education is getting better despite a number of major social factors that should have lead to worse education.
Not that I think we are doing enough, but if this is true, it suggests that the money and programs that we have enacted in the last decades have been effective and have achieved some of the improvements that they were designed for.
Some other articles that I think are interesting are:
.
On the other hand, I ran across the following discussion Is Public Education Working? How Would We Know? that suggests that, much as it goes against what we have read, our education is getting better despite a number of major social factors that should have lead to worse education.
Not that I think we are doing enough, but if this is true, it suggests that the money and programs that we have enacted in the last decades have been effective and have achieved some of the improvements that they were designed for.
Some other articles that I think are interesting are:
- The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom -- Thought I may not agree with all the components and the value of Economic Freedom vs Quality of life, this study does at least quantizes the Free enterprise factors of a large number of countries.
- Interview: Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU Project in 1984, -- After 20 years Stallman is still a controversial person, but he also has important things to say about the past and current state of "open source" software.
.
1/02/2005
new-platforms
Now that we are starting a new cycle of the government there are starting to be proposals for new platforms (for the two main parties) The following are initial pointers to these:
- Platform for a Party of the Left A forum for discussion of civic life, Belisarius
- We can employ everyone;
- We can feed everyone;
- We can provide medical care for everyone;
- We can educate everyone;
- We can reward excellence.
Also see: Doing the doable: King of Zembla, Full Employment, Fair Care: The Sideshow
Note: I believe that the Full Employment, Fair Care approach, though reasonably interesting as a democratic objective, is more idealistic than the Equality and Educational excellence set of objectives.
- We can employ everyone;
- Winning the Future Newt Gingrich lays out the plan for America’s greatness, Amazon
- including how to win the war on terror,
- reestablish God in American public life,
- reform Social Security,
- restore patriotism, and
- make American health care the global standard for excellence and accessibility.
Take the following test. -- Where do you stand on the great and growing gap between traditional American values and the secular liberalism of the Left?
An area on his WEB site that discusses the various sections, contains details, etc.
A mailing list subscription for those who want to keep informed.
Original Contract with America"- 1) require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
- 2) select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
- 3) cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
- 4) limit the terms of all committee chairs;
- 5) ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
- 6) require committee meetings to be open to the public;
- 7) require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
- 8) guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
- including how to win the war on terror,
1/01/2005
equality
Effective equality failure
I believe a CORE belief of a liberal society is that the society should be based on effective equality of opportunity, both in "practice" and in "result". One concept that relates to that of the "Veil of Birth", VOB. Note: I suggest that there is a strong VOB and a weak VOB principal. The strong one is discussed by Debate Central, and assumes that there should be an equality even for different genetic characteristics. The weak one says that there should be an equality at least for groups that are not distinguished by relevant genetic characteristics.
Without proscribing the solutions, e.g. Non discriminatory laws, elimination of legacy college admission, etc. I suggest that a society has failed if two groups have demonstrably different societal rewards that are not explained by genetic characteristics.
Thus if for example, "Blacks" are on the average poorer that "Whites" then the society has FAILED. We may be able show why this occurs, Lack of schooling, Lack of Motivation, etc. but the society, environment, is such that a Black has less expectation of obtaining the societal benefits than the White.
Thus once we agree that a society has failed, we can discuss various ways of reducing this failure, More religion, encouragement of marriage, improved head start, etc. but if we believe in this principal, then we should first admit that such a society has failed..
The Economist magazine article linked to at the head of this entry discusses the failure of American society with respect to parental wealth and states that the spread between the richer and poorer is increasing and that the mobility between these classes is decreasing, thus that America has failed.
Note: The "Free Enterprise" believers do not, as I understand, it think that this principal is important. Their argument is that the important thing is not the spread between the groups, classes, or the rigidity of the groups, but that there is improvement of all the groups and that there are instances of movement between the groups
===========================
A CORE belief of a liberal society should be that the society should ensure "effective equality of opportunity" both formally and in result.
A moral justification of this is the "Veil of Birth" principal, VOB, which suggests a "People should not excessively benefit or suffer as a result of their birth characteristics." Note: there seem to be a strong a weak VOB principal. The strong principle is discussed by Debate Central, and assumes that there should be an equality even for different genetic characteristics. The weak principle says that there should be an equality at least for groups that are not distinguished by relevant genetic characteristics. One result of such a situation is that we, the society does not benefit from the best of its citizens, but just from the Best who happened to be born in the right groups.
Thus, for example, if "Blacks" are on the average poorer that "Whites" then the society has FAILED. We may attempt to explain some of the factors that may have caused this, Lack of schooling, Lack of Motivation, etc. and the practices that can be taken to improve the situation, e.g. more religion, encouragement of marriage, improved head start, etc., but the fact is that the society, environment, is such that a Black has less expectation of obtaining the societal benefits than the White and thus has failed.
The Economist magazine article linked to at the head of this entry discusses the failure of American society with respect to parental wealth and states that the spread between the richer and poorer is increasing and that the mobility between these classes is decreasing, thus that America has failed.
Note: The "Free Enterprise" believers do not, as I understand, it think that this principal is important. Their argument is that the important thing is that there is improvement of all the groups and that there are instances of movement between the groups, and that it might be nice if the law did not discriminate, but once the formal legal governmental barriers are eliminated, it is inappropriate to discuss inequality.
I believe a CORE belief of a liberal society is that the society should be based on effective equality of opportunity, both in "practice" and in "result". One concept that relates to that of the "Veil of Birth", VOB. Note: I suggest that there is a strong VOB and a weak VOB principal. The strong one is discussed by Debate Central, and assumes that there should be an equality even for different genetic characteristics. The weak one says that there should be an equality at least for groups that are not distinguished by relevant genetic characteristics.
Without proscribing the solutions, e.g. Non discriminatory laws, elimination of legacy college admission, etc. I suggest that a society has failed if two groups have demonstrably different societal rewards that are not explained by genetic characteristics.
Thus if for example, "Blacks" are on the average poorer that "Whites" then the society has FAILED. We may be able show why this occurs, Lack of schooling, Lack of Motivation, etc. but the society, environment, is such that a Black has less expectation of obtaining the societal benefits than the White.
Thus once we agree that a society has failed, we can discuss various ways of reducing this failure, More religion, encouragement of marriage, improved head start, etc. but if we believe in this principal, then we should first admit that such a society has failed..
The Economist magazine article linked to at the head of this entry discusses the failure of American society with respect to parental wealth and states that the spread between the richer and poorer is increasing and that the mobility between these classes is decreasing, thus that America has failed.
Note: The "Free Enterprise" believers do not, as I understand, it think that this principal is important. Their argument is that the important thing is not the spread between the groups, classes, or the rigidity of the groups, but that there is improvement of all the groups and that there are instances of movement between the groups
===========================
A CORE belief of a liberal society should be that the society should ensure "effective equality of opportunity" both formally and in result.
A moral justification of this is the "Veil of Birth" principal, VOB, which suggests a "People should not excessively benefit or suffer as a result of their birth characteristics." Note: there seem to be a strong a weak VOB principal. The strong principle is discussed by Debate Central, and assumes that there should be an equality even for different genetic characteristics. The weak principle says that there should be an equality at least for groups that are not distinguished by relevant genetic characteristics. One result of such a situation is that we, the society does not benefit from the best of its citizens, but just from the Best who happened to be born in the right groups.
Thus, for example, if "Blacks" are on the average poorer that "Whites" then the society has FAILED. We may attempt to explain some of the factors that may have caused this, Lack of schooling, Lack of Motivation, etc. and the practices that can be taken to improve the situation, e.g. more religion, encouragement of marriage, improved head start, etc., but the fact is that the society, environment, is such that a Black has less expectation of obtaining the societal benefits than the White and thus has failed.
The Economist magazine article linked to at the head of this entry discusses the failure of American society with respect to parental wealth and states that the spread between the richer and poorer is increasing and that the mobility between these classes is decreasing, thus that America has failed.
Note: The "Free Enterprise" believers do not, as I understand, it think that this principal is important. Their argument is that the important thing is that there is improvement of all the groups and that there are instances of movement between the groups, and that it might be nice if the law did not discriminate, but once the formal legal governmental barriers are eliminated, it is inappropriate to discuss inequality.
12/30/2004
Dictionaries
Democratic Dictionary -- Semi-Intelligent Thoughts
Republican Dictionary -- the Nation
Tort reform is a key Republican goal -- My proposal is to consider applying similar restrictions to ALL civil suits. I do not believe that the corporations would want to be limited to $250,000 in damages and to paying for their own lawyers
100 years of Einstein --Miraculous visions, Dec 29th 2004 -- The Economist
Republican Dictionary -- the Nation
Tort reform is a key Republican goal -- My proposal is to consider applying similar restrictions to ALL civil suits. I do not believe that the corporations would want to be limited to $250,000 in damages and to paying for their own lawyers
100 years of Einstein --Miraculous visions, Dec 29th 2004 -- The Economist
12/13/2004
sites-13
Interesting sites:
Various 2004 lists,about 250 as of Dec/13, from fimoculous is a micro-organism that lives in its own excrement, oftentimes consuming it for sustenance.
interesting profiles of all U.S. cities (and Zip codes). Thousands of pictures, maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, crime data, housing, businesses, political contributions, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list, comparisons to averages.
You Say Napster, I Say Grokster -- What do you do when technology outpaces the law? -- Slate
2004 Weblog Awards - That's A Wrap. [About]
Newspapers with RSS: A List
Various 2004 lists,about 250 as of Dec/13, from fimoculous is a micro-organism that lives in its own excrement, oftentimes consuming it for sustenance.
interesting profiles of all U.S. cities (and Zip codes). Thousands of pictures, maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, crime data, housing, businesses, political contributions, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list, comparisons to averages.
You Say Napster, I Say Grokster -- What do you do when technology outpaces the law? -- Slate
2004 Weblog Awards - That's A Wrap. [About]
Newspapers with RSS: A List
12/08/2004
AV-sites
I am gathering some "Educational" AV sites. The ones that I have now are, and I would of course like any more that you feel fit within this area, Thanks...:
- Berkeley (webcast) has expanded from course webcasts to also include special campus events
- /courses contains recent webcast archives and live links right on the homepage, and archive listings that you can sort by date.
- /events contains live and on-demand webcasts of prominent speakers that make their way through Ca </events/archives Full >
- Book TV schedule C-span--
- C-span schedule -- <Audio/Video> --
- CommonWealth Club -- <Archives> -- the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum
- Constitution Center -- a multimedia archive that contains video and audio files of select public programs sponsored by the NCC.
- Foreign Policy Association -- <Audio> --founded in 1918 to educate Americans about the significant international issues that influence their lives
- Harvard Institure of Politics form NOW! <Archives>
- IT Conversations --Audio and transcripts of interviews and important (IT) events
- Stanford A/V
- Aurora Forum -- Exploring democratic ideas
- Doug Engelbart 1968 Demo -- An early demo of the mouse, hupertext... (Currently in 35 segments)
- Graduate school of Business
- World Affairs Council of Northern California -- <Audio> -- we are the largest international affairs organization on the west coast, Council events are a unique opportunity to engage in candid discussions with people who are shaping the world
11/29/2004
post
I propose that all bills, ammendments, conference compromises, etc. be posted 7 days before they are voted on so that they are available for public and goverment staff review, analysis, comment, and "polling" (as suggested by the CrooksAndLiars.com site
Note: I plan to put up a poll on, say http://www.petitiononline.com or: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/ that might get the process started, if there is interest, and will edit this when this is posted.
The body of the petition would be:
The rules of the congress be changed so that all legislation, ammendments, conference comprimises etc. be published on the WEB, accessable by the public 7 days before they are voted upon so that the public can review them."
Original Talking points memo
Note: I plan to put up a poll on, say http://www.petitiononline.com or: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/ that might get the process started, if there is interest, and will edit this when this is posted.
The body of the petition would be:
The rules of the congress be changed so that all legislation, ammendments, conference comprimises etc. be published on the WEB, accessable by the public 7 days before they are voted upon so that the public can review them."
Original Talking points memo
11/11/2004
links
Here are some useful, not on any specific subject, links from a few Blogs that I found interesting
. Online Science Resources for the K-12 Community - Free and Fee-Based
. Questions To Ask Your Doctor Before Surgery - Be Informed:
. The Rise of Open-Source Politics The nation, Nov 4, 2004, by Micah L. Sifry
. The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net
. Coalition asks US Congress to kill copyright bill - Legislation called "overkill" in intellectual property rights enforcement, Nov 2004, Infoworld.
. . . From:
. Neat New Stuff
. also see: CoolGov.com
. Online Science Resources for the K-12 Community - Free and Fee-Based
. Questions To Ask Your Doctor Before Surgery - Be Informed:
. The Rise of Open-Source Politics The nation, Nov 4, 2004, by Micah L. Sifry
. The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net
. Coalition asks US Congress to kill copyright bill - Legislation called "overkill" in intellectual property rights enforcement, Nov 2004, Infoworld.
. . . From:
. Neat New Stuff
. also see: CoolGov.com
11/07/2004
proposal-1
1) Marriage only for permanent child bearing couples
. Since there is a movement to describe marriage as "a lifelong union between a husband and a wife." in order to protect the children, lets update the Defense for Marriage Ammendment to ensure that only couples that can or already have children and are willing to NEVER devorce can get married.
2) Tax rates adjusted to state benefits
. Since some states, generally the "red" ones get more Federal Benefits than others, see Graph of the time history, let us change the IRS code so that the tax rates are adjusted so that state citizens are taxed according to their benefits. After all it is their money and this might decrease "pork" as each state representative would know that if they voted for more pork their citizens would pay a higher tax.
Links to maps.
. . Red/Purple/Blue county map
. . Cartograms (Populaton maps) of 2004 US presidential election
. Since there is a movement to describe marriage as "a lifelong union between a husband and a wife." in order to protect the children, lets update the Defense for Marriage Ammendment to ensure that only couples that can or already have children and are willing to NEVER devorce can get married.
2) Tax rates adjusted to state benefits
. Since some states, generally the "red" ones get more Federal Benefits than others, see Graph of the time history, let us change the IRS code so that the tax rates are adjusted so that state citizens are taxed according to their benefits. After all it is their money and this might decrease "pork" as each state representative would know that if they voted for more pork their citizens would pay a higher tax.
Links to maps.
. . Red/Purple/Blue county map
. . Cartograms (Populaton maps) of 2004 US presidential election
10/28/2004
prediction
There are lots of polls on the election, I am linking out to any predictions that I find. Please comment if you have any others so we can review them next week:
Also see:
. American Street Electoral College Challenge
. Trading sites: Futures Betting, Iowa Electronic Markets, Tradesports
Also see:
. American Street Electoral College Challenge
. Trading sites: Futures Betting, Iowa Electronic Markets, Tradesports
- Bush 266, Kerry 272 -- Oct 28 -- Keven Drum, Washington Weekly
10/16/2004
zeros-vs-ones
John C. Dvorak -- After witnessing the latest Presidential election process, it's apparent to me that the Internet is turning into a bad dream. (e.g. Open Source Democrary is a mistake)
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