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Saturday, September 20, 2003
New site up in the links: OurCampaigns.com. Honestly, I still haven't figured out exactly what it is or how it works. It's similar to Project Vote Smart, but with a different - and obviously not overly concerned with accuracy - data set. That said, they have some things I've had trouble finding elsewhere, such as voting data from the last election easily accessible from data on this or next year's races. They take a lot of flyers on predicting who will be running for various positions in the future, and seem to list just about everyone as related to everything, but it's still an interesting resource, if perhaps not one with any practical value. | Thursday, September 18, 2003
Interesting new Salon article about automation. Talks about the current wave happening at checkout counters and the like. They talk to a couple of futurists who have, as expected, differing views on what to expect. "Earthly Heaven" (actual quote) or mass unemployment? I have to agree with the idea that trying to save US manufacturing jobs is probably a lost cause. If the work can be done more efficiently by machines or Malaysians, what sense does it make to do it otherwise? I do beleive that automation will lead to a better world where humans are employed in work that fully draws on their talents; however, I think government does have to step in to make this dream a reality. Basically, left unchecked, the guy who owns the machines will make a huge amount of money by making the nations workers destitute. What's to be done? Members of the Club for Growth should probably stop reading now: It's all about the taxes, taxes, taxes. There ought to be a tax on robotics, not to discourage their use but simply to spread the wealth they create. Nobody would be using them if they weren't a net creator of wealth. A country which can rely on machines for its manual labor has the capability for universal wealth, but the management of that automation is critical. We're inexorably headed for a revolution, but what kind is still in our hands. | Which is the better ticket, Dean-Clark or Clark-Dean? Or will Clark turn out to be a total dork-off? Need a little time to tell. | A quick history of modern business: 1. Enron, WorldCom, et al do a bunch of illegal stuff, destroying the value of the companies while fabulously enriching management 2. The NYSE looks the other way 3. SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt announces bold new strategy of demanding a pay raise 4. Congress gets mad and institutes some laws, while Pitt is replace by William Donaldson 5. The now fabulously wealthy managers of Enron, WorldCom, et al get away pretty much scot free 6. Said fabulously wealthy managers elect to pay the NYSE's chief $140 million for looking the other way 7. SEC Chief Donaldson announces he thinks this is a good idea 8. Congress gets mad and hold hearings 9. The now fabulously wealthy manager of the NYSE gets away pretty much scot free | Running a blog that no one reads is an interesting experience. Sometimes I just don't have the impetus to write anything. Due to the nature of the beast, that's actually pretty ok. I don't know, however, whether the sporadic entries are a function of non-existant readership, or whether the non-existant readership is a convenient rationalization. I'm pretty sure the sporadic nature of entries isn't the cause of the site's low profile - that's more a function of my nondescript, unmarked location somewhere in the vast maze that is the Internet. Speaking of which, I wonder where the server this thing is hosted on is located? | Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Well, two things about that rally in Drexel Hill. One, despite the complaints of some that we weren't allowed right up to the motorcade (some people have to call EVERYTHING fascist or their day just isn't complete), security really was reasonable. We were in plain sight of the thing when it went by, and the cops didn't harass us at all. Second, there was nobody there. There were maybe about 20 protestors, and maybe about 50 locals along other parts of the route. I heard the Sierra Club was organizing a significant protest, but they never showed. As for the DelCo for Dean campaign I was supposedly affiliated with, only 2 people showed up. Well, it was raining hard. Next time we'll let 'em know what's what. | Monday, September 15, 2003
Why am I not surprised that, due to supply shortages, US soldiers have been reduced to asking their parents to send backpacks and night-vision goggles? That's on top of the earlier reports that US troops in Iraq are more and more commonly using captured Iraqi AK-47s, because no one thought to send enough rifles to equip the tankers and artillerymen (just in case they had to patrol the streets of Baghdad on foot or something crazy like that). | No kidding? Looks like that wacky 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked the California recall election until punch-card machines can be replaced. Never thought that would happen. What the federal government has to do with California's gubernatorial politics (or why the ACLU opposes the recall) is beyond me. Wonder where this one's gonna go? | The President is going to be nearby in Drexel Hill later today at another $2000-a-plate fundraiser. As usual, there's going to be a protest outside. I'm going to try to attend, assuming the rain holds off. I'm starting to get sick and tired of this Pennsylvania hey-it's-raining-no-it's-not-oh-here-it-comes-again nonsense. Between that and the humidity... anyway, I kind of want to go just to see what it's like. A friend who spent the summer observing protests for the ACLU claims the secret service does an admirable job making sure the president and the protestors never see each other, allegedly because the sight of dissent "upsets" our fearless leader. Well, if I go, I'll let you know about it. | Another usenet post, from talk.politics: 2 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th, it is clear that the | |