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Friday, April 25, 2008

Clinton wins imaginary popular vote!

Clinton is now claiming that she's winning the popular vote. Now I know some of you might be saying to yourselves; "Wait a second! I just went on RealClearPolitics.com and Clinton's still down by more than half a million votes."

Don't feel bad, a lot of people have the same crazy misconception that the popular vote is derived by adding up all the votes cast in certified primaries.

This is how the popular vote is actually counted:

(1) Take the popular vote from all the primaries recognized by the DNC. (Obama: 14,751,703, Clinton: 14,141,255)

(2) Add in Florida - where both candidates pledged not to campaign.

(3) Add in Michigan - where Obama wasn't even on the ballot.

(4) And now the fun part:

take out votes cast in Iowa

Washington

Maine

and Nevada.


And then you get Clinton: 15,116,688 Obama: 14,993,833.

It all makes perfect sense if you think about it... Full Post


Posted by Ezra at 5:00 PM 0 comments
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A Critical Thinker who wasn't Paralyzed by his Critical Thinking

In his recommendation to ratify the newly-written Constitution (see "crazy hippy kids"), September 17, 1787, Ben Franklin writes:

...I believe that... [the new constitutional form of government] can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other...

On the whole, Sir, I can not help expressing a Wish, that every Member of the Convention, who may still have Objections to it, would with me on this occasion doubt a little of his own Infallibility, and to make manifest our Unanimity, put his Name to this Instrument.



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Posted by April at 1:10 PM 1 comments
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Why the FCC is a laughing-stock and why we should be crying

In the wake of the FCC's Hearing held at Stanford last Thursday, and Chairman Martin's testimony yesterday before the Senate, it's hard to be muster much hope for the future of the internet. Symptoms of of accelerating decline - from a free-wheeling barely-legal commonwealth to something more like network TV - are beginning to appear. These sores are made all the more painful in light of the promise that the internet seems to hold - if it remains a public good and not private property - to put the power to express, organize productive activities and waste time at work into the hands of the many.


The Bad

I'm saying things are bad because of what I saw last Thursday at the hearing. Comcast, as some off you may know, promised not to block or degrade traffic on its internet service. This was back in 2006. Another interesting thing happened that same year...

Comcast started blocking and degrading P2P traffic.

This isn't just bad. It's really bad. P2P is a technology that allows innovative individuals to provide services on the internet that used to be impossible without server farms and deals with companies that optimize internet load times - two things that are extremely expensive. P2P allows all the users that love the widget that you invented to provide the processing power and bandwidth that our imaginary widget needs to function. It's like a co-op. SO when Comcast blocks P2P services that provide innovators a way to compete with Comcast... that's very serious.


Jason Devitt put the threat quite succinctly in his testimony:



So that all really... bad (sorry for the redundancy), but it get's soooooooo much worse.

The Worse

The worse is that the FCC is clearly not going to do anything. Chairman Martin is in bed with the Telecom companies and absolutely loving it. (Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska might be going to jail for all the nasty things that go on in that bed, and if he does he'll get to share a jail-bunk with his son... who was also in bed with corporate America or was until the Feds caught him. We still haven't determined if they were in bed at the same time.) I'm already writing my January 15th, 2009 post on Chairman Martin joining the executive board of AT&T...

Ugly as it is, that's just how regulation works the majority of the time in the United States. In academic circles we call it "industry capture" and it's exactly like what it sounds. The regulatees become the regulators.

The Telecoms can field an awesome array of forces - they have Congressmen bought-and-paid-for, they have armies of failed economists and technology 'experts' paid to sanctify their cloven-hoved attempts to destroy the rule of law in this country with spurious economic, legal and technological arguments, but most importantly - they have the FCC.

I'm going to leave this rant with the Churchill-esque call to arms Commission Copp gave in his statement at the Feb 17th hearing:
"We’ve come a long way [...] but there are no guarantees for the future. And that wonderful, open and dynamic Internet—perhaps the most liberating technology since the printing press, if not even greater than that—is, in fact, under threat. We will keep it open and free only by acting to make it happen. Its future is not on autopilot and, indeed, powerful interests would bring it under their control for their own purposes— which may not be your purposes. I’m not presenting a novel theory here, I’m only learning from history. History shows that when somebody has the ability to control technology, and also has a business incentive to do so, they’re going to try. And that, my friends, is what this issue of Internet Freedom or net neutrality, or whatever you want to call it, is all about."

Next time I post I want to throw out some ways of acting. I'd also really like to hear from anyone who's reading this - at this point that's probably just friends and family - on what they think and what is to be done.

All the best.

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Posted by Ezra at 2:20 PM 2 comments
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Net Neutrality: The Coming Battle

“Now we face a constitutive choice with the Internet—a choice between closed networks where the network operators control the user experience and open networks that are controlled by end users. This is an issue in which you must engage, not just because you are innovators and business people, but because you are citizens.


If I see what’s happening accurately, I believe we will have an opportunity, before very long, to decide this issue of Internet Freedom. It will be a major fight, with powerful forces on the other side. We’ll all have to work—and much as I know folks out here like to keep their focus on all the good entrepreneurial things they are doing, they—you—are going to have to focus on this issue, focus on Washington, and put your commitment and your resources into making sure the decision comes out right. Without that kind of participation, we will likely lose. With it, we have a real shot to win.”


Commissioner Copps openning statement @ the April 17th FCC En Banc Hearing on Net Neutrality

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Posted by Ezra at 2:14 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Exporting violence and exploitation, Importing really cheap tube socks

"Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., [discussing the House Democrat obstruction of a free-trade agreement with Columbia] cited figures that in the first 12 weeks of this year, 17 trade unionists in Colombia were assassinated. 'When it comes to issues like human rights, I refuse to be a cheap date,' he said."

McGovern went on to say that the President would at least have to buy him dinner and listen to his legislative dreams before he would be willing to undermine human rights. (Not really.)
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Posted by Ezra at 10:16 AM 0 comments
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