apple juice

How our “security” obsession costs us – National security – Salon.com:

“Of course, the U.S. national security state has quite a different formula for engendering safety in America: fight the Afghan war until hell freezes over; keep the odd base or two in Iraq; dig into the Persian Gulf region; send U.S. Special Operations troops into any country where a terrorist might possibly lurk; and make sure the drones aren’t far behind. In other words, reinforce our war state by ensuring that we’re eternally in a state of war, and then scare the hell out of Americans by repeatedly insisting that we’re in imminent danger, that shoe, underwear, and someday butt bombers will destroy our country, our lives, and our civilization. Insist that a single percent of risk is 1 percent too much when it comes to terror and American lives, and then demand that those who feel otherwise be dealt with punitively, if they won’t shut up.”

Time to re-read 1984?

Wicked ice storm last night here in the Twin Cities. Sonja and I were driving home after a dinner party. This screen shot from the gentleman behind east-lake.net pretty much sums it up.

 

Google Traffic at 1:00am:

 

(Via east-lake.net.)

If I could have all of my friends and family really understand one “technology” thing I am passionate about, it would probably be net neutrality. Net Neutrality is fundamental to the way the web has developed thus far, and I’m afraid that most people just don’t know or don’t care anymore to know when it is being threatened.

Internet access in America is actually quite poor compared to other developed countries. As mentioned in the following article, Finland has made 1mbps internet access a basic right of citizenship. We pay more money for slower access than most other developed countries. (Sounds like our health care system, eh?)

Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the web, has written an article in Scientific American that I hope you’ll take a look at.

Like Democracy Itself, It Needs Defending: “Long Live the Web — An impassioned plea to actively support openness on the Web from Tim Berners-Lee.

‘The principle of universality allows the Web to work no matter what hardware, software, network connection or language you use and to handle information of all types and qualities. This principle guides Web technology design.

Technical standards that are open and royalty-free allow people to create applications without anyone’s permission or having to pay. Patents, and Web services that do not use the common URIs for addresses, limit innovation.

Threats to the Internet, such as companies or governments that interfere with or snoop on Internet traffic, compromise basic human network rights.

Web applications, linked data and other future Web technologies will flourish only if we protect the medium’s basic principles.’

(Via MetaFilter.)

 

The Washington Post has a great infographic comparing the Republican and Democratic tax plans.

Remember my last post about unequal distribution of wealth?

Not the clothing manufacturer…

the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana.

Let’s just get this straight. Who will really benefit from the tax cuts Republicans are pushing? I’ve got a 1 in a 1000 bet that it won’t be you.

The richest 0.1 percent of taxpayers would get a tax cut of $61,000 from President Obama. They would get $370,000 from Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

So if the average american worker makes $30,000 / year. That $370,000 tax cut would allow the richest 0.1% percent to hire 12 personal assistants! Talk about an economic stimulus! The average income of the richest 0.1%? Nine-million dollars a year.

if Republicans are worried about long-term budget deficits, a reasonable concern, why are they insistent on two steps that nonpartisan economists say would worsen the deficits by more than $800 billion over a decade — cutting taxes for the most opulent, and repealing health care reform? What other programs would they cut to make up the lost $800 billion in revenue?

The quotes are from this article by Nicholas Kristof: Our Banana Republic

This is apolitical and important:

Bill Moyers: “Welcome to the Plutocracy”

Democrat or Republican, you should pay attention to the central thesis of this speech… Money has already absolutely corrupted the political process, and unless real campaign finance reform is introduced, and Supreme Court cases are reversed that allow unlimited anonymous donations to political action committees, we are done as a nation.

In a post-election news conference, President Obama noted that it was doubtful that Congress would do anything to address global warming “this year or next year or the year after.”

Maybe the year after that?

Here’s a little hope: A Novel Tactic in Climate Fight Gains Some Traction