Here’s a comprehensive summary of the issue. (If a topic can’t be explained to me in less than 7mins of edutainment, it’s too complicated to care about. Right?)
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Category: government
keep the Internet FREE
Jeff Jarvis has been working on a A Hippocratic oath for the internet.
He’s attending the first e-G8 summit on the internet gathered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy this week in Paris.
I. We have the right to connect.
II. We have the right to speak.
III. We have the right to assemble and to act.
IV. Privacy is an ethic of knowing.
V. Publicness is an ethic of sharing.
VI. Our institutions’ information should be public by default, secret by necessity.
VII. What is public is a public good.
VIII. All bits are created equal.
IX. The internet must stay open and distributed.
Jeff makes the point that the internet “frightens institutions of legacy power”. That’s why they keep trying to regulate and limit “using convenient masks — privacy, security, civility….”
The last one is the internet’s best protection: its own structure. To the leaders gathered in Paris, I say of that architecture: Primum non nocere. First, do no harm.
If you have no legacy power to protect, you should be fighting to keep the internet as free as possible. It’s our best hope for the future.
I signed Jeff’s recommended online petition.
President Daniels, Pawlenty or Paul?
One of the joys of driving a rent-a-car in the USA is right wing Talk Radio. (I don’t ever seem to listen to them in Canada.)
The jocks are squirming since Obama is vulnerable in 2012, but the GOP have no clear front runner to endorse.
Shawn Hannity, this week, is interviewing all the potential nominees. Interesting.
Huckabee is out. Good riddance. He is well spoken, though, calling the nomination race a “demolition derby“.
According to the Washington Post yesterday:
Mitt Romney 20%
Sarah Palin 18%
Newt Gingrich 11%
Newt is the kind of two faced, lying slimeball who formerly thrived in the GOP. But he seems to have lost a step or two. He sounded befuddled on the Hannity show Tuesday. Romney and Newt are dead in the water on Health Care, in any case.
I’d love Sarah Palin to get it. That would be hilarious.
As of now, I’d vote for these candidates, in this order:
1. Mitch Daniels
2. Tim Pawlenty
3. Obama
4. Ron Paul
Pawlenty is new to me. But I found him quite winning on the radio. He speaks well. The hard right don’t like him. That’s a good sign.
Mitch Daniels won’t even reply to Hannity’s request for an interview. Now that’s a Republican Maverick.
The USA needs a massive economic correction. Obama is not going to do it. Ron Paul would. Daniels or Pollenty might.
Some seem to think that Charlie Crist would be the second coming of Reagan. I don’t know him. But he sounded on Hannity as untrustworthy as Romney. Stay out, Charlie.
Rick Santorum was worst of the interviews I heard, a tongue twisted stumble bum.
Michele Bachmann was surprisingly intelligent sounding. She just might stand a chance in the upcoming debate against 10th Grader Amy Myers.
… By the way, I’ve always assumed that Sean Hannity (rhymes with Insanity) was another Big Fat Idiot clone. But he’s OK. Dogmatic, one-eyed, but consistent, at least.
The only radio ranters I like better are Lee Rayburn and Libertarian Dennis Miller.
Rush and his ilk get their (encrypted) talking points each morning from the Fox News / Republican / Military / Industrial HQ, then drone those ad nauseous for the day. It’s boring.
But I’d listen to Rayburn or Miller.
King Harper now rules Canada
Though I didn’t vote for him, this result might just be the least terrible of the possible scenarios. (A coalition government under Jack Layton would have been shaky, at best.)
The unlikely candidate, Stephen Harper, now has a majority. And authority.
It’s as if Presto Manning has finally come to the throne. Harper helped Manning found the Reform Party. And succeeded him as the representative for Calgary Southwest.
Jack Layton will make a good Leader of the Opposition. His MPs are young and inexperienced, though. Party discipline will be a problem.
Ruth Ellen Brosseau of the NDP won her Quebec riding despite holidaying in Las Vegas during the campaign and not speaking much French.
… Brosseau works in Ottawa as an assistant manager at a pub and lives in Gatineau, Que. Bill Curry of The Globe and Mail has described her as a “classic parachute candidate.” ….
At the outset I suspected this would be an interesting election. It was.
As for the issues, I’m only slightly alarmed at having King Harper in power.
I’m OK with buying the jets, surprisingly. The other good option is to wait until a better model is available. Cost will be higher if we do that, of course.
Last year I was quite happy with where they were going on Internet regulation. That may turn sour now, however.
Gun registry? … I don’t know enough about the issue.
Cold on Climate Change? … not my issue
My biggest complaint about the Conservatives is their tough on crime stance. It doesn’t work. It’s a waste of money.
Michael Ignatieff is the biggest loser. If you don’t like this outcome, blame the Liberal leader more than anyone else.
should we rejoice in death?
Comparing the restrained BBC TV coverage of Bin Laden’s death with the jubilant American TV coverage, I much preferred BBC.
The celebrations reminded me of those in the Middle East … after 911.
I understand spontaneous revelry. And don’t blame the kids in the photo above. But be clear that the world is a less peaceful place after Geraldo Rivera found himself in the international spotlight, again.
Those turned off by the jingoism passed on this quote:
”I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”
~ MLK Jr.
I like it too. Martin Luther King did not actually say that, though. The source is still not attributed.
Some are saying it was started by Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller.
Longer version:
“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
I’ve got mixed feelings.
It’s OK with me that Bin Laden was killed. Hopefully we can more easily move forward now. Troops can be brought home more quickly, for example. There are some pluses.
But as a symbol, Osama will live on, now a Martyr to many. Likely the world will be less safe during the coming months. Zealous celebrating and mockery can only inflame.
Obama roasts Donald Trump
Ouch.
The Donald gets powned.
For the first time in his life, Trump is a laughing stock.
President Barack Obama is shifting from consoler to comic for his appearance before the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC. And some of his most prominent would-be rivals are in attendance, including Donald Trump. (April 30)
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (short version)
HuffPo:
Would-be GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump wasted no time eagerly snatching at another silly, deliberately distracting, media grabbing attention issue, when his crusade to get President Obama to release his birth certificate came to a quick end on April 27.
The issue now is Obama’s alleged mediocre academic performance. …
Right. … We need an intelligent President. … President Trump, for example.
Prime Minister Layton
ELECTION tomorrow.
It’s looking increasingly like same old, same old … a minority Government led by Steven Harper.
Or, a coalition NDP / Liberal government led by Prime Minister Layton.
hmm
Jack Layton is the most likable of the leaders, certainly. I enjoy having the NDP around as the moral conscience of Canadians.
But to actually have an NDP Prime Minister … ??
… Even if the ‘massage therapist’ was legal and of legal age.
I think I’d rather have Harper.
What socialists like Jack never acknowledge is that every subsidy to one disadvantaged group is a penalty to the non-subsidized one.
… Right now I plan to spoil my ballot. I’m voting for the Internet.
My riding is going to go Conservative, in any case.
I’m sending Jack Layton a copy of Atlas Shrugged just in case he is our new PM.
Last Typewriter Factory CLOSES
Oh NO.
How am I going to replace my IBM Selectric after it dies ??
After selling only 800 models last year – down from over 10,000 as recently as 2009 – the last typewriter factory in the world (according to The Daily Mail) has closed its doors and halted production. The factory was run by Godrej and Boyce and was based in Mumbai, India. …
Don’t you think taxpayers should subsidize that last factory?
Donald Trump ‘proud of himself’
Trump, for me, has been some sort of bizarre comic figure. I couldn’t care less about him.
It didn’t seem possible that there could be anything more embarrassing about The Donald than his hair …
Now there is. This press conference video.
The Onion responds – Donald Trump Under Pressure To Prove He’s Not A Pathetic Sack Of Human Scum
FOX News remains the dominant cable network by a mile. But their Prime Time ratings are finally slipping.
I’m hoping we’ll soon see more American Idol on Fox, less Trump. That he could be considered a candidate for American President is as sad and insane as his hair.
how to tweet the Canadian election
Warren pointed out how backward and dense are bureaucrats responsible for Canadian election results:
Facebook and Twitter users are being advised by Elections Canada to use caution on election day when communicating and posting voting results on May 2.
In every vote, strict rules prevent any instance of what Elections Canada calls “premature transmission of results” until the last polls have closed in every electoral district in the country.
“No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district,” Elections Canada says on its website. …
read more on CBC
They aren’t savvy enough to synchronize the election over all time zones. Nor even to withhold results in Newfoundland until after the polls close on Vancouver Island.
Perhaps if we paid higher taxes we could offer more attractive government union salaries and attract smarter employees … who might correct this problem.
Since it’s not allowed, you won’t need any of these …
Glossary of Canadian Politics/2011 Canada Federal Election Twitter Hash Tags
Note: #cdnpoli, #elxn41 and #cv11 are (in my observation) by far the most popular English-language Twitter hash tags for the 2011 Federal Election.
#canpoli Canadian politics
#cdescom French-Canadian political discussion
#cdnleft Canadian left
#cdnpoli Canadian politics
#clsh Conservative leader Stephen Harper
#cpc Conservative Party of Canada
#ctvelexn CTV election coverage
#cv11 Canada vote 2011
#demreform Canadian democratic reform
#elxn41 41st Canadian federal election
#emayin Social media campaign to get Green Party leader Elizabeth May a place in the leadership debate
#fed2011 French-language Canadian election tweets
#gpc Green Party of Canada
#ignatieff Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff
#layton NDP Leader Jack Layton
#lpc Liberal Party of Canada
#momthevote Discussion of family-related election issues
#ndp New Democratic Party of Canada
#p2ca Progressives in Canada
#pmharper Prime Minister Stephen Harper
#pmsh Prime Minister Stephen Harper
#poli politics — append it to another term to localize it, eg, #niagpoli (Niagara), #canpoli (Canada)
#ppca Pirate Party of Canada
#ptndp New Democrats
#pttory Canadian Tories
#roft Right of Twitter (Canadian Conservative bloggers)
#votecompass CBC Vote Compass
#votemay2 Vote on May 2nd
#votepirate Vote Pirate Party of Canada
Rick McCharles 